constructing the theater. The 20-sided wooden theater opened in 1996. A 1500 member audience can feel free to interact with the actors, just as they did in the 16th century. The first production at the newly reconstructed Globe was Shakespeares The Two Gentlemen of Verona, on August 21, 1996 (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000).As in the original Globe, the stage of the new Globe is made of bare boards. It is five feet high, which makes it quite difficult to climb onto or jump from, but it insures that most of the standing audience can see the action. The stage wall, or Frons Scenae, is decorated in marble and stone. It is illustrated with real and fake statues of god and planetary. Behind the wall, is the Tiring House. This is the part of the playhouse where Elizabethan actors would get dressed. Most productions at the new Globe add hangings between the doors and curtains in the balcony, or Lords Room, both of which were likely features in the original Globe. The balcony runs across the whole of the Frons Scenae, and is divided into three sections. The musicians usually use the central section, while audience members sit in the side sections. In the Renaissance, the aristocracies favored these seats because they could be seen and heard as well as see the actors from very close. That is why they were called the Lords Rooms (The University of Reading 2000). The frieze is above the Globe stage. It presents six planetary deities that govern the destinies of the human beings whose lives are represented on the stage below, (according to astrological beliefs). Pauline Knox-Crichton and Peter Crombie painted them, from an Elizabethan original by Virgil Solis (The University of Reading 2000). Some examples of the gods and planets are: Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Luna, and Sol. Each of the gods has a meaning, and each planet is associated with a Zodiac sign. The gods all function in pairs, echoing the duality of the pillars that h...
