The Lord Chamberlain's Men was an acting troupe that included William Shakespeare. In 1597, when the 21-year lease ended and the price of the lease increased on the Blackfriars Theatre, where the troupe performed, they decided to build a playhouse for their performances. Each of the troupe members contributed to building the Globe Theatre, which was completed in 1599. The Lord Chamberlain's Men earned money from ticket sales for their own performances and from renting out the playhouse.
The Globe Theatre was a large, three-story, circular amphitheater. Inscribed in the main entrance of the Globe Theatre was "Totus mundus agit histrionem," which means, "the whole world is a playhouse." A variation of this motto is used in Shakespeare's play, "As You Like It," as the line, "All the world's a stage." Performances were advertised by a flag that flew over the playhouse. The fee for standing patrons in the courtyard in the center of the theater was one penny. For about two pennies, you could sit in one of the three circular galleries. Plays were performed early in the afternoon since lighting only came from the sun.
The first play believed to have been performed in the Globe Theatre was Julius Caesar (because of a Swiss tourists' diary entry about having watched the performance in September of 1559). Well-known plays that were performed in the theater include "Hamlet," "All's Well That Ends Well," "King Lear" and "Macbeth." Other plays include "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," "Troilus and Cressida," "Timon of Athens" and "Pericles, Prince of Tyre."
A cannon used as a prop was fired during a play and ignited the straw roof and burned the Globe Theatre to the ground on June 29, 1613. The theater was rebuilt the following year in a different location. The theater was used until 1644, when the Puritans, lead by Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the playhouse because they believed that they were a place of sin. In 1993 a replica of the original Globe Theatre was built about 200 yards from the original theater.