Shakespeare’s Globe has announced the gift of £1.5 million from an anonymous private donor for a matched-giving scheme to help the Globe reach its fund-raising target of £7 million towards the new Indoor Jacobean Theatre.
For every pound raised by the Globe, it will be matched from the £1.5 million pool, bringing the fund-raising total to £4.5 million.
Shakespeare’s Globe Chief Executive, Neil Constable, commented last weekend: ‘We are delighted to announce the launch of our £1.5 million matched-giving scheme, to raise funds for our new Indoor Jacobean Theatre.
‘Our wonderfully generous anonymous donor has given this money to enable us to complete the Indoor Theatre, but also by doubling donations we receive, we hope that this will encourage others to support this important project.
‘Building starts in October at the end of the Globe’s summer season, so we’d really like to rally the support of our audiences and supporters and ask everyone to get involved at whatever level to ensure works start on time.’
The Indoor Jacobean Theatre will be the newest addition to London’s theatre landscape, and it will be the most complete recreation of an English renaissance indoor theatre yet attempted.
The Globe intends to open the theatre with its first, programmed winter season in November 2013.
The Indoor Theatre will seat approximately 320 people, with two tiers of galleried seating and an historically accurate pit seating area, which will provide a uniquely intimate and intense theatre experience.
Some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays – The Tempest, Cymbeline and The Winter’s Tale – were written for an entirely different space to the outdoor Elizabethan playhouses like the Globe Theatre.
By restoring the Indoor Jacobean Theatre to its intended purpose, the Globe will be able to further its understanding of theatre practices at that time and explore the unique relationship between actor and audience in England’s earliest indoor theatres.
Zoe Wanamaker, Honorary President of Shakespeare’s Globe and daughter of Sam Wanamaker, commented: ‘The Indoor Jacobean Theatre is another step towards realizing what was in Sam’s head.
‘It is a wonderful thing in this day and age to build a new theatre, a continuum in our culture, which perpetuates literature and art and performance, and encourages an exploration into the unfolding of British drama.’
Designs for the Indoor Jacobean Theatre are based around a set of plans discovered in the 1960s in the collection of Worcester College Library in Oxford.
The designs show a small seventeenth-century indoor theatre with a U-shaped galleried auditorium embracing a platform stage.
These plans, originally thought to be drawn by celebrated Renaissance architect Inigo Jones, though now thought to be by his protégé John Webb, are the earliest plans for an English theatre in existence, and remain the best indication of the nature of an Indoor Jacobean Theatre.
Since its opening in 1997, Shakespeare’s Globe has become a success story beyond all expectations.
As well as providing an endless series of insights into Shakespeare’s plays and performance practices, it has proved hugely popular, playing to sell-out audiences throughout the summer and running an internationally renowned education programme.
The Indoor Jacobean Theatre will provide a second stage, allowing theatre productions to play throughout the winter, widening the Globe’s repertoire and further completing the understanding of the nature of Jacobean theatre.
It will also prove an invaluable arena for Globe Education programmes and further research into Shakespeare’s theatres.
The Globe says: ‘Donations can be made online, at the Globe, or via post or phone, and the Name-A-Seat campaign to raise funds for the Indoor Theatre continues. To find out more about making a donation, visit shakespearesglobe.com/support-us or contact the campaign office on 020 7902 1457.’
Among the Globe’s sucesses, the English Touring Theatre presents the Shakespeare’s Globe production of Anne Boleyn from March-May 2012.
Shakespeare’s Globe in association with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse present Henry V, touring April-June 2012.
Globe to Globe 2012: This is part of the World Shakespeare Festival for the London 2012 Festival to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games.
Over the course of six weeks, starting on 21 April 2012, all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays will be performed in a different language, by different companies from around the world.
Henry V by William Shakespeare opens the Globe 2012 Theatre Season – The Play’s The Thing.
Produced by Shakespeare’s Globe in association with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, it will be directed by Dominic Dromgoole with Jamie Parker as Henry V and will run from 7 June to 26 August.
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, directed by Toby Frow, runs from 23 June to 13 October.
Richard III by William Shakespeare, Produced by Shakespeare’s Globe, Sonia Friedman Productions and Shakespeare Road will be directed by Tim Carroll, designed by Jenny Tiramani, music by Claire van Kampen, with Mark Rylance as Richard III, from 14 July to 13 October.
The same team will present Twelfth Night with Mark Rylance as Olivia from 22 September to 14 October.
The Globe Exhibition and Tour is open all year round. For more information visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/exhibition.
Globe on Tour: The Globe’s productions tour the UK, Europe and America and the Globe is currently developing its touring schedule, as well as screening productions in cinemas. For more information www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/on-tour.
Globe Education presents a programme of workshops, lectures, events and staged readings all year round. For more information on this programme of events call Globe Education 020 7902 1438 or visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/education.