This is a close replica of Shakespeare's 16th century theatre, reconstructed just 200 yards from its original site. Built in wood and thatch, using the methods of 400 years ago, the theatre opened in 1996. Plays are performed in the open-air in all weathers, and the Globe has to be repainted every year to protect it from the elements.
American actor Sam Wanamaker was the man behind the idea for this marvellous reconstruction and its accompanying complex that includes an exhibition displaying Elizabethan drama-related items, the Globe Cafe and Restaurant, and a gift shop. The centre undertakes workshops, lectures, walking tours and other educational activities. On a visit to London in 1949 Sam Wanamaker was appalled to discover no monument to Shakespeare and the theatre where his work was first performed, other than a tiny plaque in a brewery that stated that it was built in the same location as where the Globe had once existed. The original foundations were eventually discovered in 1989 under a Grade II listed Georgian building in Southwark Bridge Road.