History Repeats Itself - Globe Theatre Burns to the Ground - Don Nixon

The Globe Theatre in Prague, an exceptionally constructed replica of London’s Elizabethan Theatre, burned to the ground in the early hours of Saturday, November 11th. Unlike its predecessor whose cause was the result of an explosion from a cannon fired during a performance of Henry VIII in 1613, the Prague blaze remains a mystery. At the time of publication of the Theatre.cz Bulletin, cause of the blaze was still under police investigation. The police have not ruled out the cause of the blaze to be arson nor homeless seeking shelter.

The Globe Theatre was built in 1999 in the Vystavíště Exhibition grounds in Prague. Since that time, the theatre suffered a short-lived and difficult existence. After it’s opening, the theatre required additional reconstruction to resolve acoustic problems caused by the neighbouring Krizik Fountain. The August floods that swept through the Czech Republic made the theatre practically unusable. However, the theatre spaces were used for the Czech Theatre Architecture exhibit during the Prague Quadrennial in 2003. There are currently no plans to rebuild the structure.