Good dawning to thee, friend!

Time for another location – Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in Southwark, London beside the Thames. I visited there during Easter 2014. This location features in the episode The Shakespeare Code (2007). The Tenth Doctor and Martha travelled to London in 1599, when the Doctor was proving to Martha that the TARDIS could travel in time.They visited The Globe when it had just opened and met Shakespeare when he was writing Love’s Labours Won. Unfortunately his words were used by the Carrionites to summon the rest of their kind to invade earth.

This isn’t the original theatre as it burnt to the ground in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII. It was rebuilt but then closed by The Puritans in 1642 along with lots of other theatres. The current theatre is 5 minutes away from the first and was opened in 1997. The man who made it happen was Sam Wanamaker whose daughter is Zoe Wanamaker, who played Lady Cassandra in the Doctor Who episodes The End of the World (2005) and New Earth (2006)!

I visited The Globe whilst the actors were rehearsing Titus Andronicus, not Love’s Labours Won like in the episode. Not many people get to see rehearsals during their tour so I was pretty lucky. Unfortunately I couldn’t take photos inside because the rehearsal should stay secret! I watched the actors practice, one of them being Indira Varma who was in Torchwood.

While I was watching the actors, a pigeon flew into the theatre because there wasn’t a roof! Luckily it wasn’t summoned like the Carrionites and didn’t cause any trouble. After the tour I visited the exhibition and learnt about Shakespeare and The Globe and saw an example of stage fighting.

I also visited some other locations during my trip to London which I will tell you about in the future.

Farewell and God Bye Ye!