Welcome to The Globe Theatre! This theatre was built in 1599. Shakespeare was one of the owners of the original theatre. This is a very close replica. It is a round structure and is made mainly out of wood. As you can see it has 3 rows of balconies. There is also a central courtyard where the stage is. It could hold 3,000 people. The richer people had seats in the balconies. The poorer people instead did not have seats but stood in the central courtyard. As you can see, the stage is about one and a half metres above the ground. This stopped the people in the courtyard from jumping onto the stage. Because the central courtyard was uncovered, plays were performed only between May and September and because there was no artificial lighting they were performed in the early afternoons. The acoustics were very poor and the actors and actresses had to shout their lines in order to be heard. As in ancient Greece, because women were not allowed to perform, men performed women’s roles. The flag of the theatre showed Hercules carrying a globe – that was the logo of the theatre. The motto of the theatre was in Latin: “totus mundus agit histrionem” which means, “The whole world is a stage”. The Theatre first opened with a performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.