Fire burns down the Globe Theatre

 

 On this day ~ 29th June 1613 
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 Fire burns down the Globe Theatre 

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 The Globe theatre in London, burnt down on 29th June 1613, during a production of William Shakespeare's 'Henry VIII'
The fire was apparently started by a misdirected cannon shot.
They didn't use cannon balls, but they did use gunpowder held down by wadding.

A piece of burning wadding, then set the thatched roof ablaze.
It took just an hour for the theatre to burn to the ground ~ miraculously, no one was killed.

 The successful theatre was originally built in 1599, by a company of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which included Shakespeare himself.

The theatre was sited south of the river Thames, in the London suburb of Southwark.

 The company built a second Globe, on the brick foundations of the first.
It was the same size and shape, but was much more extravagantly decorated ~ it also had a tiled roof, not a thatched one.

The theatre was pulled down in 1644, two years after the Puritans banned all theatres.

 The rediscovery of the theatre's remains in 1989, confirmed much of its form and structure.
It's roughly circular shape had 20 sides, and was three stories high, with an open air pit in the centre for the cheapest tickets.

 Today the Globe theatre has risen once more, largely due to the efforts of the late American actor and director, Sam Wanamaker.

Sam started a campaign to rebuild the theatre, so modern audiences could one again experience the original setting for such plays as Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)
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 OnThisDay~Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on fire