Globe Theatre

High above the theatre, I see a flag. It’s different than yesterday. Not red or black, but white! I think it means that there is a comedy today. It’s roughly two o’clock in the afternoon, but after all the time-travel that put me in the early 1600’s in the first place, how would I know what time it is? I’ve been here for about a week, and it’s the first comedy I’ve been able to see. When I arrived, I was unfortunate enough to be ‘caught’ (or so they said), and assigned a grueling job, with minimal pay. However, I’ve been going to the performances at the Globe Theatre everyday instead of working...Does that make me a bad person? I’m not even from this century!

Today, just like any other day, I am about to pay a penny to watch the performance from the ‘pit’. The pit, just like in a concert that we see in the 21st century, is basically an area in front of the stage where people can stand to watch the performance. Only here, it’s mainly just the peasants that stay in the pit. In the last few performances, I’ve been noticing how the stage is arranged and how the theatre is set up. The Globe Theatre is an amphitheater with three stories. The stage is in the center of the theater with a balcony and roof overhanging it. There are trap doors on the stage, and the roof - also known as the ‘heavens’ - is painted like the sky and rigged to give the actors the affect of flying! It’s actually pretty cool to see, being that they aren’t as technologically advanced as we are in the 21st century. I’ve only seen the balcony used a few times.  One time was in the classic balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. I’ve also noticed a few back doors on the back wall of the stage. I’m assuming it leads backstage, where the actors all get prepared. Oh, speaking of, there aren’t any actresses! Most female roles are played by little boys. I don’t have a problem with this because I really don’t like to act, but I know that if this happened in the 21st century, it would be a HUGE issue.  

The show hasn’t started yet, so I’ll tell you a few more things I’ve noticed about the theatre. While standing down in the pit, I saw a few women wearing masks. They were all sitting in the upper levels, which means that they had to be a noblewoman of some sort. I actually heard a rumor that the women who wore masks were very prosperous, and wore the masks to hide their identities. It’s baffling to me, but, who knows... Also, during the performances, it almost seemed like some of the actors didn’t know their lines. It turns out, that a lot of the actor’s lines are given to them right as they go on stage because the performances are constantly being written and produced. They’re pretty easy for me to understand based on the actions because I’d read most of the plays in school before this whole time-travel mishap. However, the language is very hard for me to understand. Actually, people can’t understand me either. I constantly feel like there are just a bunch of bees buzzing around me because what I hear simply goes in one ear and out the other.  Especially in the pit.

       Oh wait, everybody is quieting down...This play must be highly anticipated because it's normally really noisy during the performances! But the comedy is about to start! We’ve got to begin before the sun goes down! Here's a picture of the common amphitheater from this time period if you want an idea of what the theater looks like!

 I'm hoping this play takes a while so I can just head straight to bed afterwards, rather than having to go back to work! Or maybe... I'll figure out how to time-travel back to the 21st century...