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About the Globe
During Shakespeare's time, play-going was a popular activity. People from all social backgrounds attended the public playhouses. The excitement, vitality and participation of audiences in Shakespeare's London are in sharp contrast to the more reserved conventions of theatre-going in our own time.
Popular subjects for plays were stories about love, witchcraft, poison, conspiracy history, assassination, revenge and murder. But while many attended the playhouses, there were those who spoke out against these 'temples of Satan', complaining that 'our theatres and play houses in London are as full of secret adultery as they were in Rome'. These anti-theatricalists opposed the use of elaborate costume, the attendance of prostitutes, and the use of boy actors to play the parts of women.
Despite these outcries, the theatres were extremely successful and acting companies like Shakespeare's continued to perform not only for the public, but also for the Queen at court and in private houses for important members of the ruling class. No other playwright could match Shakespeare's ability to write plays that appealed to such a wide and varied audience.