Shakespeare’s Globe — a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre opened by William Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599 — has issued a plea for donations in the face of its pending insolvency and closure.
We hope to open the doors to our wooden O as soon as possible but in this unprecedented time for theatre, and as a charity that receives no annual government subsidy, we are in desperate need of donations to help us to continue to strive in the future.
[…]
We remain one of the most affordable and accessible theatres in the UK, despite many pressures, managing to retain our £5 Groundling ticket and over 50% of tickets in the Globe Theatre at £25 or less. Without your support, we will be unable to continue this work.
The BBC expanded on this, with some more quotes from a representative of the theatre:
In evidence to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, the theatre said: “Without emergency funding and the continuation of the coronavirus job retention scheme, we will spend down our reserves and become insolvent.
“This has been financially devastating and could even be terminal.”
The original Globe Theatre also endured a plague, as well as some fires, and financial collapse. But letting such an historical monument — the place where the modern English language was essentially revolutionized — fall apart once again is a depressing indictment on our societal priorities.
Shakespeare’s Globe theatre calls for urgent funds to avoid insolvency [BBC]
Image: Yair Haklai / Wikimedia Commons (CC 3.0)
