Tribute To The Bard Reconstructed Globe Theatre Opens In London

Queen Elizabeth II ventured into the world of her 17th-century namesake Thursday at the opening of the reconstructed Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare once premiered many of his plays.

In a style befitting Elizabeth I, the queen and Prince Philip came to the open-air theater on the south bank of the Thames by boat and were greeted by a trumpet flourish as they passed through its wrought-iron gates.

As ever, the Bard provided the appropriate text:

“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

“The brightest heaven of invention,

“A kingdom for a stage, princes to act

“And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!”

Actress Zoe Wanamaker - daughter of the late American director Sam Wanamaker, who led the campaign to rebuild the theater - spoke the famous Henry V prologue on the straw-strewn stage.

William Shakespeare was a shareholder, actor and playwright at the first Globe, which opened in 1599. It burned in 1613, when cannons fired during a performance of “Henry VIII” set it ablaze. It was rebuilt in 1614 but demolished 30 years later to make way for houses.

The $39 million Globe, just 200 yards from the original site, was the lifelong dream of Sam Wanamaker, a longtime resident of Britain who died at age 74 in December 1993.

About 900 people can sit on bleachers with another 500 people on the ground closer to the stage.

The royal couple sat in a box - or “gentleman’s room” - in the first tier of seats.

The black-tie audience was treated to performances that included scenes from “Henry V” and “The Winter’s Tale,” the two plays that will launch the theater’s first full season later this month.

Tony-winner Jane Lapotaire played Queen Elizabeth I in a 17th-century skit depicting the life of Shakespeare and the Globe.

As in Shakespeare’s day, the audience was invited to cheer the heroes and jeer the villains. Actors dressed as fruit sellers in front of the stage jokingly pelted the stage actors with currants, an Elizabethan heckler’s trick.

The gala occasion, which ended with fireworks and champagne, thrilled Mark Rylance, the Globe’s artistic director. “What a delight it is to act in this theater,” he said. “It is a great gesture to the human imagination and to those people who have had the courage to follow someone with imagination.”