Volunteering Stories - Our day at Shakespeare's Globe

Volunteering Stories - Our day at Shakespeare's Globe

21 December 2023

Journalism Student Maria Quintero shares her experience volunteering at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, organised by UWL's Volunteering team.

Our day started at the Globe Theatre with a group of University of West London (UWL) students on a trip organised by the University’s Volunteering team. Starting with a guided tour of the theatre, we were led by the lovely Paige, who was very entertaining and informative. Shakespeare’s Globe is a replica of the original theatre which would have stood in Shakespeare’s time where multiple plays are performed per season.

It’s a really great feeling when you pop your head into the theatre, and you can look up and it's dark and the stars are there - and you have got a full audience of 1,600 people. It's that community element,”

says Eleni, the Deputy Visitor Operations Manager at the Globe.

We started at the front of the Globe, where we learned that the building was a replica of the original. We made our way inside into the lower-level part of the theatre, where the penny stinkards would have stood. 

FUN FACT: They were called penny stinkards because people paid a penny for standing tickets where they drank beer, washed themselves and their clothes with water from the river and relieved themselves.

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Several hands on top of each other in a circle

After that, we went up to sit in one of the Lord's Boxes, where we were told an array of facts about the Globe Theatre, theatre in general and its origins – including how actor and director Sam Wanamaker brought back the Globe Theatre in the 1990s.

The Globe Theatre that stands today is not the second, but the third version of the theatre, having been built as recently as 1997. The original was built in 1599 and survived the plague but was destroyed in a fire and then rebuilt in 1614, but was demolished in 1644 when the Puritans, whom Oliver Cromwell led, banned theatre when they took control of England.

Lastly, we went into a conference room to learn about volunteering opportunities at the Globe, where you can train to usher for shows within both the playhouse and the open-air theatre.

The Volunteering Team at UWL work with over 100 different voluntary organisations. For more information on volunteering email thevteam@uwl.ac.uk.