Christmas at Shakespeare’s Globe 2011

20.10.11 This Christmas and New Year Shakespeare’s Globe will celebrate the winter season with a range of

activities and entertainment across the site. Visitors can explore Shakespeare’s London with a visit to

the exhibition and theatre tour throughout the festive season and enjoy the annual A Concert for

Winter. As well as these activities Swan at the Globe will keep the winter chills away with a selection of

food and drink served within the renowned bar and brasserie, and Shakespeare’s Globe shop will offer

Christmas shoppers a unique range of gift ideas and decorations.

A Concert for Winter will take place on Thursday 8 December at 1pm. Groups from across

Southwark will come together to make the Globe stage their own at Globe Education’s annual event. A

Concert for Winter will this season provide a banquet of music, song and festivity which will celebrate

the work and creativity of Southwark community groups and schools. Tickets are free, but must be

booked in advance by emailing community@shakespearesglobe.com.

The popular ‘Frost Fair’ exhibition will return to Shakespeare’s Globe Exhibition from 1 December

2011 to 2 January 2012. This fascinating and temporary exhibition showcases traditional London

winters from Elizabethan Frost Fairs to Christmas’ of the late 1800’s. Frost Fair’s were held on the

tideway of London’s River Thames between the 15th and 19

th Centuries when the river froze over. The

Frost Fair looks at this great tradition - where streets of stalls and booths stretched from bank to bank

offering gifts, food and clothing, and entertainments made their way on to the river including bear-

baiting, skating and puppet shows.

Open throughout the year, Shakespeare’s Globe Exhibition and Tour offers the perfect day out for the

whole family. The Exhibition presents the rich story of the Globe and brings Shakespeare’s world to

life using modern technology and traditional crafts. Travelling through interactive displays, visitors

explore areas of costume, music and special effects, and are invited to take part in a fascinating half-

hour tour of the Globe Theatre. The tour takes visitors through the auditorium with Guide-storytellers

recreating colourful stories of the 1599 Globe, the reconstruction process in the 1990s, and how the

‘wooden O’ works as an imaginative and experimental space today.

This Christmas a special Activity Weekend will be held on the 17 and 18 December. Included in the

price of a standard exhibition ticket, families can enjoy a range of activities including live sword fighting

demonstrations, Elizabethan costume dressing and printing demonstrations using a full-size recreation

of a 17th Century printing press.

Shakespeare’s Globe Shop is open to the public daily between 10am to 6pm and offers a vast

selection of merchandise relating to one of Britain’s most loved playwrights and unique Christmas

present ideas. The shops fresh approach to design ensures that the products on sale are exclusive to

the Globe and specially commissioned ranges offer customers modern interpretations that celebrate

some of the best known lines ever written.

Ends

EDITORS NOTES For further information contact Rebecca Storey, Senior Press & PR Officer for Shakespeare’s Globe on 020 7902 1492 or email Rebecca.s@shakespearesglobe.com.

Globe Exhibition and Tour: Winter opening times Nov 2011 – Feb 2012, 10am – 5pm (Tours depart on the hour & half hour between 10.30am – 5pm)

2012 Shakespeare’s Globe will present Globe to Globe, a multi-lingual Shakespeare festival to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Over the course of six weeks, starting on 23 April 2012, all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays will be performed in a different language, by different companies from around the world.

Indoor Jacobean Theatre: Shakespeare’s Globe is currently fundraising to build an indoor Jacobean theatre, opening in 2013. For further information please visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/indoorjacobeantheatre

Globe Education presents a programme of workshops, lectures, events and staged readings all year round. From October to December Globe Education presents ‘Shakespeare and The Banquet of the Senses’. For more information this programme of events call Globe Education 020 7902 1430 or visit www.globe-education.org.

Globe Shop stocks a variety of products, including theatre season specific merchandise. Shakespeare's Globe is a registered charity and all profits from sales go towards supporting our educational mission. Items can be bought at the onsite shop or online at www.globe-shop.com

Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe bar and brasserie is open all year round. For reservations please call 020 7928 9444.

The Shakespeare Globe Trust is a registered charity No.266916. Shakespeare’s Globe receives no public subsidy.