Globe QTVR: Still images

The Globe Theatre Virtual Tour
Still Photographs from the QuickTime VR Panoramas

The Globe Theatre Virtual Tour uses QuickTime VR software to provide the ability to "stand" in various places within the building and turn 360 degrees around to view whatever is visible from that position. More than 20 "nodes"--positions from which one can look around--were used in the creation of this tour of the theatre, of which three are available here. The tour was designed by members of the Open University / BBC Shakespeare Project Team, and the photographs were taken by Trevor White on Friday 6 September 1996; the "actors" in their positions on the stage are members of the Shakespeare Project Team. The photographs were taken with a wide angle lens which produces something of a "fish-eye" effect: straight lines appear curved and some curves appear straight. This "distortion" which is so noticable in these still pictures disappears in the QuickTime VR video. (Clicking on any of the pictures on this page will call up a larger version of the same picture.)

These still images can offer only a small taste of the kind of perspective which the QuickTime Globe Tour can give. In the full original version of the QuickTime Globe prepared for the Open University, you can walk long on the riverbank outside the theatre; upon entering the theatre, you can view the exhibition centre, and then continue into the stage area. On the stage, you can position yourself as any one of the "characters" on stage, or you can take a position in the house or even backstage. Three samples of the Globe Theatre Virtual Tour are available, but they require that one's web browser be equipped with the QuickTime VR plug-in or application software (available for downloading from the "Apple.com" web site).

[Picture of the Globe Theatre on the River Thames]

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre has been recreated on the South Bank, about 200 yards from its original site. The new Globe opened officially on 21 August 1996 with a production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

The Globe stage, as viewed by the "groundlings"; the theatre has a capacity of about 1500, 500 of whom stand on the ground in front of the stage. Notice the pillars upon the stage and the central mural on the back wall.

The Globe stage, as viewed by the "groundlings." Here, on stage, are several members of the OU / BBC Shakespeare Project Team: from left to right, these are Tony Coe, Ray Yee, Lizbeth Goodman, Jill Tibble, and Teresa Dobson.

[Picture of the Globe Theatre stage, from the wing]

The Globe stage, viewed from the wing, stage right. The wide angle lens offers a (somewhat distorted) view of the stage and part of the groundling area, plus the galleries, and the open sky above.

[Picture of the Globe Theatre auditorium from one of the galleries]

A view of the stage, auditorium and sky, from the second level gallery, right of centre. The wooden frame of the gallery partially blocks the view, demonstrating some of the limitations experienced by members of Shakespeare's original audiences--here you are positioned as a spectator in the type of theatre space for which Shakespeare was writing.

The QuickTime pages were created with the assistance of Raymond Yee.
Created: 12 Jan. 1997; Last revised: 15 Nov. 2007