![Shakespeare_shakespearesworld_discover_updated_mastheadimage An actor playing William Shakespeare sits by a pillar on the Globe stage](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/11/Shakespeare_shakespearesworld_discover_updated_mastheadimage.jpg?resize=1990%2C796&gravity)
SHAKESPEARE'S WORLD.
Explore our fact pages and discover the world that Shakespeare lived in
- Jump to
- Fact pages
- Research resources
FACT PAGES
![William Shakespeare Portrait Engraving 1st Folio An engraving of a man’s face he has short hair and is wearing Elizabethan dress](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/03/Shakespeare_Droeshout_1623.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare is world famous. We know quite a lot about him but there is still much that remains a mystery.
Discover More![Grace-church-market/London/shakespeares-world/image Archival drawing of the Grace Church Market](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/03/067925.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
LONDON
London was the biggest and richest city in England and was the home of the first permanent playhouses.
Discover More![Candle lighting 1 A man lights candles in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/01/Candle-lighting-1.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Playwrights in Shakespeare’s time used language to describe ‘special effects’, but acting companies could also produce very dramatic ones too.
Discover More![Globe London Wenceslaus Hollar Long View Guildhall Library An old monochrome illustration shows buildings by a river](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/03/globebear.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
PLAYHOUSES
There were two different types of playhouse in London during Shakespeare’s time, outdoor and indoor.
Discover More![2018-show-globe-interior-people-Image_15 A view of the audience and stage from the middle gallery of The Globe Theatre](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/01/2018-show-globe-interior-people-Image_15.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
AUDIENCES
By 1600, several theatres offered plays most afternoons, with between 10,000 and 20,000 people a week going to London theatres.
Discover More![Worcester College plan 1 Seventeenth century drawings by John Webb of plans for an early indoor theatre that was probably never built](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/03/Worcester-College-plan-1.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
INDOOR THEATRES
Did you know many of Shakespeare’s plays were written for indoor theatres, and that they were actually very different to outdoor playhouses?
Discover More![Globe Theatre 2018 site image Exterior photograph of the Globe Theatre](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2018/11/globe-bg.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
THE THIRD GLOBE
The current Shakespeare’s Globe in London opened in 1997, near to the site of the original Globe theatre.
Discover More![Sir-Thomas-More-Copy/Fact-sheets/Writing-plays Script section from the the Book of Sir Thomas More](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/03/HandD-Sir-Thomas-More-Copy.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
WRITING PLAYS
Going to the theatre was a popular pastime in Shakespeare’s day. Just about everyone in London went to the theatre, but what did they go and see?
Discover MoreRESEARCH RESOURCES
![Research Resources The spine of a book with the word Shakespeare written on it](https://images.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2020/03/RESEARCH-RESOURCES_-RESEARCH-AND-COLLECTIONS_-STANDARD-IMAGE-1.jpg?resize=16%2C10&gravity)
We are committed to making our scholarship public through a range of online resources.
Use our Research Resources as a guide to finding archive links, research papers and bulletins from our free to access archive catalogue.