Originally begun as a labour of love by the American actor
Sam Wanamaker, the Globe Theatre has tried to be as near a faithful replica of
the original Globe as possible, thanks to thousands of hours of detailed
historical research, done by a dedicated team of both professionals and
volunteers. Part A – Fire Regulations
When the project and the construction of the theatre's main structure was already well under way, Jim Coulson, TFT's Director, was consulted by the Project Architects, who had a difficult technical problem to solve, concerning the structure's performance in fire.
It was realised that modern Building Regulations now required that the structure should have adequate resistance to surface spread of flame, in the event of a fire: and there was only one product on the market, capable of treating the Oak timbers, which had any chance of achieving those regulatory requirements. However, there was a serious drawback – it was only approved for treating cladding timbers which had a maximum thickness of 17mm: whereas the Globe's structural timbers were about 300mm square!
Jim's practical solution to this problem was to have tests commissioned on the timbers, once they had been monitored (by him - over a period of several months) to show that they had achieved a suitably low moisture content, at a minimum depth of 20mm. The timbers were then impregnated with the chemical treatment: and Jim was confident that this would work. It did! And thus it enabled the building to achieve full Fire Certification and to continue with its construction on schedule.
Part B – Seating: made out of “Dell Berds”
A bit later on in the life of the Globe Theatre project, the architects came back to Jim to ask for his help in sourcing some “historically accurate” Pine timbers, from which to construct the stepped seating within the timber galleries. With his knowledge and experience of the Scandinavian timber industry, Jim was able to source a near-perfect match for the timber required, in terms of its appearance, texture and growth rate: in order to give the theatre-goers the authentic look and feel of the so-called “dell berds” (that is: “deal boards”) that the historic researchers had identified as having been used in Shakespeare's time.
Jim also arranged for - and supervised - the preparation and drying of these timbers, from the moment of their shipment into the UK until they were ready to be fabricated into the benches for the Globe Theatre's audiences.
Find Out More about the Globe at http://www.shakespearesglobe.com.
