-David Patrick Stearns,
USA TODAY

"LONDON - Rarely has a theater
been built on
so much blind faith."

"Today's opening of
Shakespeare's Globe Theater -
a reconstruction of the 1599 structure
for which William Shakespeare
wrote his best works -
will be attended by Queen Elizabeth II.

The building has
already been visited by
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
and it appears in Al Pacino's film
"Looking
for Richard."

"But the theater has been highly controversial,
beset by funding cliff hangers
that were only partly alleviated
by a $21 million
government grant in 1995.

The late American actor/director
Sam Wanamaker,
who conceived the idea,
raised funds
for 17 years before breaking ground,
but the $50 million project
is still $10 million short
of being paid
for."

"That's indicative of the scorn
some Britons have heaped on it.

Many feared the new Globe
would seem like some kitschy
Bard World theme park.

Even now, many think London
is oversaturated
with Shakespeare."

"'They think its Hollywood,'
says Globe music director
Philip Pickett,
one of the most respected leaders
on London's early-music scene.

'There was a magazine article
recently that said
the ups and downs of the theater
were more like
Hollywood than Shakespeare.'"

"Nonetheless,
the theater has attracted
300,000 visitors
in the last two years,
even though it wasn't finished.

The box office is
one of the busiest in town.

And the predominant buyers appear
to be British.

'Now that its here,
they're fascinated by it,'
says Director of Education
Patrick Spottiswoode."

"Still, one understands how quixotic the project might seem.

Partially roofless
and shaped like a hexagon,
the Globe is
scrupulously authentic,
right down
to the Norfolk reeds
used on the thatched roofing
over the stage and the
wooden nails
holding the beams together.

Seats are found only
on the tiers along the walls;
main-floor viewers
stand or sit on the ground."

"As in Shakespeare's time,
performances are presented
in broad daylight
without moodsetting lights and,
at least in the current production
of Henry V,
with an all-male cast."

"The idea, Pickett says,
is that the Elizabethans knew
what they were doing,
and their logic
will be apparent only
by following their example.

Even the stockings
worn in Henry V are hand-knitted."

"'People wonder why
we don't just go out
to J.C. Penney
and buy stockings there.

But that's not the point,' Spottiswoode says.

'We're exploring textures.

There are such wonderful textures in this building,
the thatch roof,
the oak,
the goat hair.'"

Goat hair?

Mixing it
with the wall plaster
yielded superb acoustics.

Touring the new theater,
the veteran actor
Sir Alec Guinness declared,
'Many of our grand old
provincial theaters have horsehair
under their gilded decoration,
and this gives
exactly the right resonance
to the human voice. . .
for all our technology,
we don't compare
with the ancients.'"

"Soliloquies here aren't delivered
to empty air;
instead they become moments
in which characters
confide directly
to viewers standing
at the lip of the stage."

"'The general atmosphere
is more anarchic and loose,'
says Ben Walden,
an actor in the
30-member resident company,
which has already toured
to the USA.

'Shakespeare can get
held in so much reverence,
the plays can become static.

This place
really frees them up.'

But without the help
of high-tech stage effects,
actors can't have an off day."

"The music-
which requires much
educated detective work
since so little survives-
has its revelations.

For Henry V,
Pickett researched trumpet calls
used by
the warring French and English.

By using authentic ones,
he could telegraph changes of scene immediately
to the audience.

(He made several recordings of
Shakespeare-era music
with the Musicians of the Globe,
set
for July release
on the Philips label)."

"The Globe's stage floor
is covered
with rushes-
the floor represents the earth-
while the ceiling above it
is brightly painted in sky blue
and ornamented
with all the signs of the zodiac.

It's a microcosm of the universe.

Though two thick pillars
on each side don't make
for the best sight lines,
'the pillars support the sky,'
Walden says.

'One represents Venus,
the other Mars,
the masculine and feminine.'"

"But there are limits
to historic authenticity.

Were original
accents and declamation used,
the plays might
be incomprehensible,
Pickett says.

In fact,
the Globe makes a point
of mixing historically authentic
productions
with more modern,
high-concept ones.

This season's Winter's Tale,
for example-
one of four productions
in a season running through Sept. 21-
has a mixed-gender cast
and is directed by the cutting-edge
David Freeman,
who's known
to ask his casts
to rehearse nude."

"In all cases,
productions are subject
to authentic rainstorms.

Though actors and audiences
in the reserved seating area
stay dry,
those on the ground get wet.

'They tend
to cluster against the wall,'
says theater spokeswoman
Nina Jacob.

'Were we doing King Lear,
it would be perfect.'"
---------------------------

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