Shakespeare's Globe: An Interactive Pop-up Theatre
Grade 4-8–Plays are meant to be seen, and this interactive book features a fold-out model of the Globe Theatre in its heyday, complete with stage, galleries, thatched roof, and spectators ready for a performance. Selected punch-out characters from 12 of Shakespeare's plays are included (and attached to a small cardboard handle to allow for easy manipulation), as are two removable scripts that include monologues and/or scenes in which the characters appear. The package also provides a booklet introducing the Wooden O and the state of the theatre in Elizabethan and Jacobean times as explained by Richard Burbage, leading actor of the King's Players. The well-constructed 10-inch model is made with a good-quality lightweight cardboard and is drawn to scale and filled with accurate architectural details. The excerpts from the plays are exact quotes. A brief plot summary introduces each scene; however, the language of the commentary (as if offered by Burbage) is elevated and the structure quite formal. The illustrated booklet provides interesting information, but for those with little or no background in this theatrical tradition, the explanations may be incomplete. While the book's fragile nature will make it difficult to circulate, libraries might consider purchasing it for classroom or program use.–Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.