A inside view of the Shakespeare's Globe new indoor theatre Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014. The theatre is a reproduction of a Jacobean playhouse and it seats 340 people with two tiers of galleried seating and an historically accurate pit seating area. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
January 14, 2014 - 8:18 AM
LONDON - Shakespeare's Globe in London is adding two innovations in its quest to give audiences a sense of theatre as it was 400 years ago: a roof, and candles. Hundreds and hundreds of candles.
They flicker in sconces and chandeliers inside the Globe's brand-new indoor venue, which stands alongside its Elizabethan-style open-air playhouse beside the River Thames.
The oak-framed theatre will allow the Globe to stage plays year-round for the first time. Its first production, opening Wednesday, features screen star Gemma Arterton in revenge tragedy "The Duchess of Malfi."
The playhouse was built from original 17th-century plans using centuries-old techniques, and its shows will be lit entirely by candles.
Artistic director Dominic Dromgoole said Tuesday that the goal was to create a theatre in which Shakespeare would have felt at home.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014