New Globe Education and Rehearsal Centre

Shakespeare’s Globe is embarking on a £6 million capital project to develop a Globe Education and Rehearsal Centre. Construction work has begun to transform the Victorian building on the corner of Bear Gardens and Park Street (50 metres from the Shakespeare’s Globe site) into four floors of inspiring education and rehearsal space.

The building is located in Park Street on Bankside, historically the most important theatre area of the world and next to the sites of the Rose and Hope Theatres. It will provide Globe Education with a base to develop its pioneering programme that already works with over 100,000 students of all ages every year. The building will enable the department to strengthen its existing connections with Southwark schools and the Southwark community as a whole.

The site (58 Park Street) is the original old warehouse space in which Sam Wanamaker first began developing his ideas for the Globe project and where many of Globe Education’s programmes were first developed. A Globe Education Centre promoting theatre-based approaches to the teaching and enjoyment of Shakespeare’s plays was always part of his vision. Globe Education was founded 8 years before the Globe Theatre opened.

Sam Wanamaker’s daughter, Zoë Wanamaker visited the site and said: “It is a significant moment to see more of my father’s dream become a reality. The Globe Education and Rehearsal Centre will be a state-of-the-art home to complement the quality of the pioneering education programmes undertaken here.”

The new Globe Education and Rehearsal Centre is due for completion in late Spring 2010 and will include four workshop studios and a rehearsal studio for use by students and theatre practitioners. It has been designed by Globe architect Jon Greenfield with input and internal designs by award-winning architects Eldridge Smerin. Following consultation with young students from Southwark , Eldridge Smerin responded to the wish that the Centre reflect the Globe Theatre by bringing in the use of oak and the shape of the Theatre into their designs.

Lifts and ramped entrances will make the building fully accessible and there will be a café for public use on the ground floor.

More information on the campaign can be found at www.shakespeares-globe.org/thesecondstage.

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