Shakespeare’s Globe theatre warns of virus closure threat

LONDON: Shakespeare’s Globe, the replica open-air theatre in London, has warned it could close without emergency government funds to get it through the coronavirus lockdown, documents showed Monday.

The Globe, which also leads research into the English playwright, warned in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry that the stay-at-home order “has been financially devastating and could even be terminal”.

Without emergency funds, “we will not be able to survive this crisis; a tragedy for the arts, for the legacy of England’s most famous writer, but also for the country, if our iconic site on Bankside stands empty”, it said.

The theatre, a full-scale thatched replica of Shakespeare’s 1599 open-air theatre, was built in 1997 near its original location on the south bank of the River Thames.

More than one million people a year visit the site, which also includes the candle-lit Jacobean Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and a library and archive.