Shakespeare's Globe to reopen for guided tours and digital shows this week
© Tristan Surtel / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Shakespeare's Globe is set to reopen to visitors this week.
While live performances with audiences will not be going ahead, the venue will re-introduce its guided tours from Friday, with six different tours per day allowing participants, for the first time, to step onto the Globe's prestigious stage.
From Friday, the Globe will also launch its first-ever digital festival, considering the issues of Shakespeare and Race. The festival will include a documentary about Romeo and Juliet, monologues from celebrated writers (Nicôle Lecky, Winsome Pinnock and Amanda Wilkin), a return for hit podcast "Such Stuff" as well as a new workshop promoting ideas of anti-racism for youngsters.
Actors Alfred Enoch, Rebekah Murrell, and Sargon Yelda and director Ola Ince will gather in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to discuss topics of Shakespeare, race, beauty, and mental health.
On the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on 23 August, there will be a filmed panel discussion featuring academic Preti Taneja, Professor Karim-Cooper, historian and president of the Royal Historical Society, Margot Finn and director Elliot Barnes-Worrel.
Neil Constable, chief executive of Shakespeare's Globe, said: "As an independent charity that currently receives no government subsidy, our hope is that any income raised from this festival will help support the Globe, artists and practitioners, as we all continue to look for new ways to share our work.
"After being closed for five months, reopening for our wonderful guided tours, giving access to the stage to our visitors for the first time, and the opening of our online shop and the Swan Bar and Restaurant are all ways in which we hope to welcome more and more people back through our doors to safely enjoy culture and experience in our iconic theatre before we are in a position to start performances again."
The Globe's online shop has now also reopened, while the Swan Bar and Restaurant are open for business and are taking part in the Government's Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
