We're up and about fairly early to catch the bus back to the Globe Theatre for a tour of the place. We had a great guide who also happens to be an actor. The acoustics are perfect so that you can hear anywhere, even at the side of the stage and behind the actors. Line of sight might not be good, but the sound is perfect. And because sets were minimal in Shakespeare's time, the scenes were set by dialog. (“We are in the forest.” And, “We fought and I am dead,” are examples.) Therefore it wasn't necessary to be able to see everything on stage.
Something we couldn't see from our seats during the performance was that the ceiling above the stage is painted with stars, Greek & Roman gods and the like. If you look at one of the columns holding up the ceiling, you'll see it looks like marble. It's only painted to look like marble. Everything is made from wood using the same techniques that would have been used in Shakespeare's time. All wooden beams were hand-hewn. The ballisters were turned on an old-style foot treadle machine. All the pieces were put together with wooden pegs. (Although the guide didn't say so, I'm sure that there were some concessions that had to be made so that current building codes were met.)
After the tour we went through the attached museum and saw tools that were used for making costumes, different types of fabrics used, how women's undergarments were constructed (different ways in different periods) and musical instruments that I've never heard of before this. All in all, the place is pretty cool.
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