William Shakespeare is world famous. We know quite a lot about him but there is still much that remains a mystery.

London was the biggest and richest city in England and was the home of the first permanent playhouses.

Playwrights in Shakespeare’s time used language to describe ‘special effects’, but acting companies could also produce very dramatic ones too.

There were two different types of playhouse in London during Shakespeare’s time, outdoor and indoor.

By 1600, several theatres offered plays most afternoons, with between 10,000 and 20,000 people a week going to London theatres.

Did you know many of Shakespeare’s plays were written for indoor theatres, and that they were actually very different to outdoor playhouses?

Many of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed at the Globe.

The current Shakespeare’s Globe in London opened in 1997, near to the site of the original Globe theatre.

Going to the theatre was a popular pastime in Shakespeare’s day. Just about everyone in London went to the theatre, but what did they go and see?