Shakespeare's Globe Centre (USA) Centre of Globe Research

Chronology of the current reconstruction

Sam Wanamaker (1919-1993)

1987--February, the Globe Trust receives a new planning consent to continue the project and begin planning in earnest (the previous permit had expired during the four-year legal battle with the Southwark Council).
--April, London conference on Shakespeare on Film and Video, sponsored by the Globe Trust's Audio-Visual Committee.
--summer, amateur historian Martin Clout publishes an attack on the 24 sided Globe Theatre design, substituting a design of six sides. His work is widely discredited and discounted by all concerned scholars.
--July 16, Groundbreaking Ceremony (shown below): HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, sets the "Royal Oak" that completes the 24 anchor posts erected during the groundbreaking ceremonies. Twenty five countries offer to supply timber, including Nigeria, Finland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Malaysia.
--autumn, Shakespeare's Globe Center USA hires Community Counciling Services, Inc. for professional fundraising in America.

1988--March 5, in the first Shakespeare Globe Cup Polo match at the Eldorado Polo Club, California, USA, the American side defeats the British 8-7.
--April, the Tokyo Globe begins life with a production of The Wars of the Roses series.
--April 23, Dame Judi Dench kicks off the Globe Start reconstruction on Shakespeare's birthday.
--Dr. Armand Hammer retires as Shakespeare's Globe Center, North America's Chairman of the Board, but agrees to stay on as Honorary Chairman.
--June 25, plans are presented in New Zealand by the people of that country for four embroidered hangings for the finished Globe's stage; work to begin by February of 1989.
--July, for July Donor's week, the second polo match at Windsor Great Park, UK, results in Santa Fe (USA) defeating Windsor Park 6 to 5 1/2.
--autumn, serious construction work on the Globe is finally underway.

--Sept 26, 1st panel of underground diaphragm wall is put in place, shown at right.
--While digging the foundations for an office building, construction workers discovered architectural remains of what looked like an Elizabethan-era theatre. It turned out to be the Rose.
--Dec 19, Rose excavations begin.

1989--May 14, Rose excavations end.
--May 15, popular protest (including Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Ian McKellan, and Dame Judi Dench) wins a reprieve for the Rose remains, which eventually get protection and a promise to "re-excavate them at an appropriate time."
--John M. Hennessy and Arthur M. Quilty are appointed joint chairmen of the Board for Shakespeare's Globe Center, North America.
--June 10, scholar Dr. Diana Devlin becomes Vice President of the Friends of the Southwark Globe; Sam's former secretary Siri Fischer Hansen becomes the Friends' secretary.
--June 14, on Sam Wanamaker's 70th birthday, Globe Trust signs an £18 million contract to rebuild the Globe with Lovell Construction, Ltd.
--death of Sir Laurence Olivier.
--Oct 12, 9:30 am, the Museum of London announces the discovery of the remains of the original Globe!
--Nov 2, Ronald Reagan accepts honorary chairmanship of the National Board of SGC-NA.
--Nov, the area surrounding the Globe remains are scheduled under Ancient Monuments and Archeological Areas Act of 1979.
--"Friends of the Southwark Globe" become "Friends of Shakespeare's Globe."

1990--Feb, New Issues in the Reconstruction of Shakespeare's Theatre conference here at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.

1991--April 23, HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, delivers the annual Shakespeare Birthday Lecture.
--June, the New Zealand hangings are completed and unveiled (in New Zealand).
--Sept, 30' by 20' banner depicting the largest known picture of Shakespeare is hung over the Thames at the construction site.
--David Hicks is appointed new General Director of International Shakespeare's Globe Center.
--the opening of the Neuss Globe in Dusseldorf establishes a link with ISGC-Germany.

1992--June 17, HRH Prince Edward unveils the fist two bays. In the picture at right, John Greenfield, Franklin Hildy, Sam Wanamaker, and Peter McCurdy (facing away) inspect the bays' skeleton.
--The Globelink program for schools worldwide is established, local schools bury 23 time capsules on the site.
--October, London design conference at Pentagram on the impact of the Rose and Globe discoveries.
--Michael Perry succeeds David Orr as Globe Trust Chairman.

1993--January, Sir John Gielgud receives first annual Shakespeare's Globe Award for lifetime contributions to the performing arts.
--April 5, the New Zealand embroidered hangings begin a World Tour to raise funds on their way to London.
--April 23, the first Building Site Festival (on Shakespeare's birthday), includes Sir John Gielgud, and the Bremer Shakespeare Company's performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Globelink buries more time capsules.
--Globe Education begins its most ambitious project to date: The Hamlet Project, which includes 60 schools from Denmark, Germany, and England.
--July, Sam Wanamaker is made a Commander of the British Empire.
--eight bays are in place, and the foundations for the following have been laid: the restaurant, pub, shops, flats, and the Inigo Jones Theatre.
--Sept 30, Globelink buries its third batch of time capsules..
--Dec 18, Sam Wanamaker dies at the age of 74.

Go forward to:

The Beginnings until 1986 when Sam acquired the site

 

Return to the main page of your choice:

The University of Maryland

UMD Department of Theatre

updated on: 16 November 1999

Questions? Email the Research Archive(globe@deans.umd.edu)

This page is maintained by Carrie J. Cole (cjcole@wam.umd.edu)