Shakespeare's Globe in London is adding two innovations in its quest to give audiences a sense of theater 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 theater will allow the Globe to stage plays year-round for the first time. Its first production, opening tomorrow, 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 today that the goal was to create a theater in which Shakespeare would have felt at home.
