So, I'm pretty sure that everyone has heard of a guy named William Shakespeare. Right? He's pretty famous not only for his amazing plays, sonnets, and poems but also for the Globe Theatre where all of his plays were performed in Elizabethan England. It was built in 1597 by Shakespeare's acting troupe called: The Chamberlain's Men. It burned down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII due to a cannon being fired off; this was their version of special effects. A year later, it is rebuilt on the same grounds or very near to them and this time they decide to tile the roof instead of thatching. By 1642, a Civil War breaks out between the Puritans and the Royalists and they have to close the Globe (or rather demolish it) in 1644. This is just a basic and very brief overview of the timeline of the old Globe Theater.
Back to when it first burned down, it was during a performance of Henry VIII. The Globe Theater was very much known for being a place where the upper class of society would go to just be seen in the box/balcony seats and the lower class of society were there for the entertainment. Basically, it was a place to socialize and mingle. Anyway, being that the Globe was there for entertainment they liked to use very realistic special effects and wanted to keep the audience engaged and entertained as much as possible. The way it was designed as a building was that it had a roof but it was "open" so that it could allow for smoking effect, cannon firings, fireworks, entrances that required "flying" from the Heavens. The floors had trap-doors which also had the advantages of adding surprise entrances for certain characters (for example: the ghost of King Hamlet in Hamlet). As you can see, the special effects they had were very real/literal and very primitive compared to all the crazy special effects that we have today. Obviously, it was not a good idea to have a thatched roof when they had special effects such as cannon firings. That's just asking for a fire. Am I right? But what was also unique about the Globe was the architecture and design of the building. It was built to be like an outdoor theater where the Sun could come in and light the stage. They didn't have all the sophisticated lighting techniques we had today.
But, since the old Globe Theater was torn down by the Puritans they decided to rebuild it. The idea came up in the 1970's from Sam Wanamaker. In 1989, they established where the old Globe possibly could have been and had to get an idea as to where to put the new Globe. When they were building the new Globe they found bits and pieces of the foundation from the old Globe and discovered that they were only about 200 yards from the previous location. The new Globe Theater officially reopened in the year 1999 (so pretty recently) with the show Henry V.
How did they know where to build the Globe? How did they know what the Globe looked like? How did they get the dimensions? Should they use artificial lighting? What modern adaptations could they add to make sure another fire didn't occur? Obviously, a lot of questions and research went into rebuilding the Globe. But what modern technologic modifications are there in this new theater? They didn't have cameras back in Shakespeare's time so they didn't have to pictures to look from when rebuilding the Globe so they had to look back at descriptions written down in books. One of the books mentioned that has a description is Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction where there is an interior and exterior description. But there is also a picture of the Swan Theater (another theater in London at the time) that was built similarly to the Globe and architects most likely branched off of this as well. It's also known that the theater was based off of a Roman amphitheatre; although it's also said to be an octagonal shape as well. When they built the new one they went off of a landscape picture where you can see the top and exterior of the Globe Theatre but they also went off of an interior picture of the Swan Theatre which was assumed to be very similar to the Globe. So, judging by how seating was and the style of the inside (amphitheatre) the Globe could house a good amount of people. But, the new modern, technological aspect of the reconstructed Globe include having the thatched roof be covered in a fire-proof liquid (the first thatched roof in London since 1666). So, the goal was to rebuild the new theatre but to make it as authentic as possible. While they may have achieved that in making it look as authentic as possible there are still some major modern changes (although there is still no heat or air-conditioning). They use natural lighting but they obviously have artificial lighting to enhance it as well. Technology really comes into play during the process of rebuilding the Globe and just measuring out the dimensions but doing those based off of old paintings, drawings and descriptions. But, obviously, the lobby of the reconstructed Globe will be cleaner than what it was back in Shakespeare's time and much more modern looking. Also, I'm pretty sure that the new museum, restaurant, gift shop, and lecture hall was not included in the old Globe and have modern twists to them as well.
http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_for_children/18004
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-globe-theatre.htm
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