Anniversary of the Globe burning down

On Tuesday 29 June Shakespeare’s Globe will mark the anniversary of the destruction of the first Globe in 1613, with a production of the play responsible for the fire which burnt it to the ground. Built in 1599, the first Globe theatre was 14 years old when a stage cannon fired during a performance of Henry VIII, set fire to the thatched roof and consumed the theatre. The modern Globe – also in its 14th theatre season, having opened its doors in 1997 – is today equipped with fire retardant thatch coating and a specialist sprinkler system, so is unlikely to suffer the same fate.

This is the first time the new Globe has staged this play, which was famous in its own day as a visual pageant of masques and royal ceremony. Director Mark Rosenblatt has created a sumptuous production with Dominic Rowan in the title role and Spooks actress Miranda Raison as Ann Bullen.

Mark Rosenblatt remarks: ‘It's pretty rare to stage a play that once burnt down a theatre - it's even rarer to stage it again, for the first time, in the theatre which replaced it. There's still an explosion in our production at the point the old Globe caught fire – during Act 1 Scene 4 – to announce the King’s entrance. During the technical rehearsal we all looked up, saw smoke leaking out the roof and wondered, maybe, just maybe, history would repeat itself. But I was quickly reminded that the new Globe's got a pretty fierce sprinkler system.’

In 1996, the Globe theatre became the first thatched building in London since the Great Fire 330 years earlier, and is today recognised as one of the most famous thatched buildings in the world. London’s first Building Regulation, the ordinance of 1212, banned the use of thatch to try to avoid the rapid spread of fire from one building to another. However, with the combination of a new chemical treatment for the thatch, together with a specialist sprinkler system, Shakespeare’s Globe was able to secure the necessary approval to use authentic materials in the rebuilding of the Globe theatre. Shakespeare’s Globe’s current production of Henry VIII is the first time that the play has been performed in a thatched Globe since the original theatre burnt down.

Read more about our production of Henry VIII here »
For more on the rebuilding of the Globe please click here »

Back to Top