SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL AND SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE: The Essence of England (26)

[This is the twenty-sixth and final of a series of articles giving a brief description of each of the 26 ancient Anglican cathedrals coupled with a sketch of a person, activity or institution connected to the area]

Southwark Cathedral, on the South Bank of the Thames across London Bridge is rather a poor sister among the magnificent collection of medieval Anglican cathedrals in England. Only the East End is medieval since the decrepit Nave had to be replaced in Victorian times. The site is hemmed in by railway lines and other commercial buildings; it was only elevated to cathedral status in 1905.

Southwark Cathedral

 Although there were earlier churches nearby, Southwark really started out as an Augustinian priory in 1106. It was ravaged by a fire in 1212 and was rebuilt in the Gothic manner from 1220 to 1420. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, the priory became a collegiate parish church known as St Saviour’s. In common with all churches in South London, Southwark was part of the Diocese of Winchester (not London), whose Bishops had their Palace nearby. The Diocese of Southwark was created in 1905.

Retro-Choir at Southwark

Choir and Altar Screen

     

   Architecturally the spacious Early English Retro-Choir is admired and the Altar Screen dates from the 16^th century: its figures are Victorian replacements

 

Southwark is used by City firms for events and I have attended excellent carol services there, often followed by canapés and mulled wine, very welcome on a December night. There is a profusion of memorials, notably a polychrome painted one to the 14^th century poet John Gower, a friend of Chaucer. A rather Disneyesque stained glass window was erected in the 1920s to depict characters from William Shakespeare’s plays but it at least honours the great man. John Harvard of University fame was baptised at Southwark in 1607 and is well commemorated in a pleasant chapel erected by London-based alumni.   

Although Southwark is only in the second rank of ancient Anglican cathedrals, it is an interesting place and it should be cherished.

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In William Shakespeare’s time (1564-1616), Southwark was quite a wild part of London. It was under the lax control of the Bishops of Winchester, unlike the City whose Bishop was based at St Pauls. The writ of the City Livery Companies did not run there so trading rules and standards were not enforced. Southwark became almost a red-light area, a place of taverns, brothels and playhouses with an underworld of dubious traders, actors and vagabonds - prisons soon sprung up to house them, including the famous Clink. Among the playhouses was Shakespeare’s Globe, built by the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, of which William Shakespeare was a member, in 1597.

William Shakespeare

The Reconstructed Globe Theatre

    

The reconstructed Globe, not actually on the original site but near enough, was the brain-child of the American actor Sam Wanamaker (1919-93). It became his lifework and he raised over $10m for the project: some came from his own earnings but much was generously donated by the US theatrical philanthropist Samuel H. Scripps.

Sam Wanamaker

Samuel H. Scripps

Sadly, Sam Wanamaker died before the Globe was opened by the Queen in 1997. There is no doubt that this Elizabethan-style theatre is a major enhancement to the London theatrical scene. Every effort has been made to re-create the authentic experience, with a thrust stage projecting into the large pit where spectators stand in the Tudor and Jacobean manner. Only the stage itself is covered from the elements together with the raked seating areas around the circular auditorium; optimistically the Globe season hopes for reasonable London weather from early May to early October!

Not only Shakespeare plays are performed although they constitute the majority. In 2012 three new plays received their world premieres. But imagine the thrill for an actor as he declaims on the Globe stage from Macbeth:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

So the historic Globe civilises modern Southwark. The Cathedral injects sanctity: the magnificent new Shard towers over all: Borough Market attracts foodies looking for that unusual ingredient. Back at the Globe, the denizens of the Pit laugh and exchange banter with the actors playing Petruccio, Bottom or Caliban. Yet even they are humbled into respectful silence as Prospero with peerless eloquence takes his leave at the end of The Tempest:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, 

As I foretold you, were all spirits and 

Are melted into air, into thin air: 

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, 

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve 

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, 

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff 

As dreams are made on, and our little life 

Is rounded with a sleep. 

SMD

16.12.12

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2012