Theatre in Shakespeare's Time

The building is describe a vast, polygonal, three-story timber structure, open to the sun and rain (Because there was no electricity in those days). Its exterior was coated with lime and plaster. It had features similar to the future Globe playhouse and other playhouses of those days. Such as galleries, upper rooms, a tiring house (in   which the actors kept their store of props, costumes, and playbooks and prepared themselves for their performance.) and trap doors in the stage floor. Like the Globe, the Theatre had two external staircases, standing on either side of the building, and leading up to the galleries. Those people, who watched from the main "yard" surrounded by the comfortable covered galleries, were forced to stand during the entire performance. The Theatre was home to many acting companies, but was used primarily by Shakespeare's acting troupe the Chamberlain's Men, after 1594.  

In the globe, the two stage posts were very large since they had to hold the large cover or sky, which had a trapdoor in it with a hoist for the actors playing gods to come down onto the stage. Below that trapdoor was one in the stage, which served as the entry-point for King Hamlet's ghost and sometimes graves.