William Shakespeare’s Globe Theater

By Elise Warner

A crowd of twentieth century "groundlings" stands in the open yard of the new Globe Theatre in Bankside, London. We've paid five pounds approximately $8.50 to see a performance of The Life of Henry the Fifth (Henry V.) In the early 1600s, at the first Globe Theatre Shakespeare's "Wooden O," groundlings (commoners) paid one English penny. Two pennies entitled a patron to a seat on a bench in the gallery; protected from sun and rain by a thatched roof made of water reed. Three pennies bought a cushioned seat close to the stage where one could see and be seen and the most prest...