Welcome wanderers!
After 429 days, our Globe Theatre reopened once more for Summer 2021 with A Midsummer Night’s Dream
It’s been a long journey since we closed our doors for performances last March 2020, and we’ve missed the hubbub of audiences in our Globe Theatre, filling the space with laughter, joy and love.
After 429 days, last week we were thrilled to welcome you all back to Bankside, as our fiesta-filled A Midsummer Night’s Dream got our Summer 2021 season underway. And we weren’t the only ones who were delighted to see the great oak doors of our Globe Theatre open once more – you all had plenty to say about it too! From our Acting Company to the wonderful members of staff that make up the Globe Family, our magnificent Volunteer Stewards to you our audiences, there was lots of love shared online for our wooden ‘O’…
After 429 days, last week we were thrilled to welcome you all back to Bankside for the opening of our Summer 2021 season. Photographer: Tristram Kenton
Blessing the Globe Theatre stage
Tuesday 18 May was a special night for the extended Globe Family as we invited friends and family to join us for the dress rehearsal of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We began proceedings with a Globe tradition: at the start of each theatre season, we bless our stage and make a wish for the year ahead. Our very own Neil Constable and Michelle Terry were joined onstage by the Dean of Southwark Cathedral, Andrew Nunn (and after an explosion of whooping, clapping and many pairs of feet thundering down in celebration), we together reflected on the events of the past 14 months, but also the joys to come. Blessings and wishes shared, it was the moment we have waited for, for over a year – the magic of live theatre on our Globe Theatre stage once more. Safe to say it was a emotional evening for all!
Hand in hand with fairy grace
Will we sing and bless this place
— Titania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Dean of Southwark Cathedral, Andrew Nunn joins Neil Constable and Michelle Terry onstage to bless the opening of the season. Photographer: Pete Le May
Glorious evening going to watch the dress rehearsal for #AMidsummerNightsDream @The_Globe last night – the atmosphere was incredible, arts lovers exhilarated to be at the theatre… you could feel the energy! Plus a rainbow came out to set the mood 🌈 ❤️ #TheShowMustGoOn pic.twitter.com/eku2FiJEuk
— Sarah Bostock (@SarahBostockAct) May 19, 2021
So this happened last night @The_Globe and it was MAGICAL. The rain miraculously cleared just as the show started, and once again we all shared ‘a most rare dream’ 🥰🥰 pic.twitter.com/O8uFX1G2Zh
— Maryam Grace (@Maryamsgrace) May 19, 2021
Reader, I cried.#AMidsummerNightsDream #BackOnStage pic.twitter.com/U0erVMyRky
— Shakespeare’s Globe (@The_Globe) May 18, 2021
‘In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus asks: Is there no play to ease the anguish of a torturing hour? For 429 days the answer has been no, but tonight the answer is finally yes. The anguish of this torturing year will finally be eased as we congregate once more to watch, hear, feel a play. Tonight we will be allowed to hope again. Tonight we will quite literally Dream again’
— Michelle Terry, Artistic Director
After one of the most isolating years, it was a thrill to be reunited as a Globe Family for the dress rehearsal of a A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
It was a joy to see our Globe Family all together for the first time in 14 months. Photographer: Pete Le May
Reopening our doors to audiences for the first time in 429 days
@shakespearesglobeWho’s excited for theatres reopening? 🙌 We open for shows today! 🎭 ##Quackspeare ##BackOnStage ##Theatre ##ShakespearesGlobe ##GlobeTheatre ##fyp ##foryou♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod
Coming to the Globe for OUR REOPENING & #AMidsummerNightsDream tonight? You’ll need:
Tissues (it’ll be v. emotional)
Waterproof (open-air)
Cushion (for your booty)
Face-mask (protect others!)And most importantly…your SMILES. We’ve missed you! ⭕♥️#BackOnStage #ThisWoodenO pic.twitter.com/TZhWnmHwou
— Shakespeare’s Globe (@The_Globe) May 19, 2021
Seeing a familiar character return to our theatre and armed with a pack-list of essentials, we were ready to welcome audiences back into our wooden ‘O’ – we missed you!
OPENING NIGHT IS HERE!!!! And I couldn’t be happier to be back in #thiswoodeno @The_Globe Can’t wait to welcome everyone back in – it’s gona be a goodun’ ❤️⭕️ #MidsummerNightsDream pic.twitter.com/mwIp55VY6z
— Emily O’Mahony (@EmilyM_OMahony) May 19, 2021
@The_Globe reopens today, on the same day in 1603 that Shakespeare and the Kings Men were granted permission to perform again despite the age of plague.
What an honour to be a part of this extraordinary, time bending company. pic.twitter.com/EzrZUON2t1— Nadi Kemp-Sayfi (@nkempsayfi) May 19, 2021
Tonight (after a brief hiatus😉) @The_Globe opens its doors once more and I’m honoured to be a part of it. pic.twitter.com/34awzlzxKR
— 𝙱𝚛𝚢𝚊𝚗 𝙳𝚒𝚌𝚔 (@bryandick) May 19, 2021
Our Summer 2021 season opened with a bang with a fiesta-filled A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Photographer: Tristram Kenton
Back where I belong @The_Globe😃 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/A6LKrmFg27
— Simon Bolland (@BollandFb) May 19, 2021
So last night I was honoured in the #firstaudience for #AMidsummerNightsDream @The_Globe Joy and tears in abundance. Never have the lines ‘That rheumatic diseases do abound’ and ‘We will sing and bless this place’ been more potent. #gratitude to the whole team #theatreisback pic.twitter.com/W7O5mD7NUG
— Amanda Stephens-Lee Actor/Voice Coach/Accent Coach (@ASLActor) May 20, 2021
Hello old friend 🎭😊❤️ pic.twitter.com/fP1kb8lkoB
— Sarah Hemming (@SarahHemm) May 25, 2021
And not only have we welcomed over 3,000 of you through our doors for performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream this past week, we’ve also welcomed one lucky Groundling to take part in the action of the play in each show – as the sixth member of the Rude Mechanicals, ______* Starveling, the joiner (*insert audience member name here), who perform the (hilarious) love story Pryamus and Thisbe before the Duke and Duchess of Athens on their wedding day. A huge hurrah to all our Starvelings so far, you’ve been sensational!
Yesterday we went to the Globe theatre. As we sit down, an “usher” approached me and asked me to say a few lines in the play… long story short, I had a blast playing Starveling in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night Dream” (in the rain) – grateful to have culture back 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/nACImFdsft
— Eze Vidra (@ediggs) May 24, 2021
So all that’s left to say is thank you. Thank you for supporting us this past year as we’ve navigated the uncertain waters of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thank you for watching our online work from afar, wherever you are in the world. Thank you for sharing the love and chatting to us online. And thank you for returning to our Globe Theatre with the biggest smiles on your faces and lighting up the atmosphere with your energy, your joy, and your applause. We couldn’t do it without you.
Give us your hands if we be friends,
And the Globe shall restore amends.
— A Midsummer Night’s Dream
We cannot wait to welcome you all back to the Globe Theatre this summer! Photographer: Tristram Kenton
FINIS.
Our Summer 2021 season is now open with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We look forward to seeing you in our Globe Theatre very soon!
If you cannot visit us in person, we’ll be livestreaming four of our summer shows. Discover more.
