the theatre in London where Shakespeare’s most famous plays were first performed. It was built in 1599 by the actor Richard Burbage on the south bank of the Thames . It was a round, open-air building with a roof over the stage. It had three levels of seats and an area in front of the stage where some of the audience could stand. It was closed by the Puritans in 1642. An exact copy of the Globe was built in the 1990s and Shakespeare’s plays are again performed there.
Compare Rose Theatre .