Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 2, No. 20. Tuesday, 22 Jan 1991.
 
Date:   Mon, 21 Jan 91 11:09:03 EST
From:   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Subject:  [Globe Theatre Site]
 
                                       21 January 1991
 
     Incidentally, I hope that my comments on the Globe site after
the appeal from John D. Cox for letters, did not sound too
cantankerous.  I claim no authority on developments in this
area.  Like most students of Shakespeare's period, I would be
whole-heartedly glad to hear of a sound plan for excavation.
In an ideal world, by now planning for an internationally-
supported investigation of the site to be followed by a museum
would be well along.  But after the mess made initially of the
discovery of the Rose site, I am afraid that this call for
letters to urge an immediate dig on the Globe site suggested
to me a call to encourage some of those responsible for events
in 1989 to quickly decide the fate of the site.  That touched
a tender spot for me.  (Is such paranoia justified?)
 
     In his letter, which I am pleased now to read, Andrew
Gurr seems to hold out little hope for a proper dig, but more
suggests launching a plea that the site not be put on ice for
25 years.  The year 2015 sounds a long way off, perhaps
encouraging letters might do some good.  Could Gurr, I wonder,
provide us with more details of the plan of Hanson Trust which
he mentions, which might be the basis for a campaign?
 
     For Gurr's plight any scholar has to feel deepest
sympathy.  To be responsible for advice on rebuilding the
Globe only yards from the presumed buried remains, and then to
find access barred, must be very frustrating - as a colleague
has pointed out to me.  (Though I suspect we have to be
cautious in hoping that archaeology could help with that
crucially speculative aspect of any rebuilding attempt -
deciding the appearance of the stage and tiring house wall.)
 
     Personally, I suspect that, both financially and
politically speaking, conditions here are wrong at the moment
for a major dig seeking the remains of the Globe theatres; but
nobody could be more delighted than I to hear of a determined,
well-funded, plan to excavate and properly preserve the Globe
site, which I understand is now a listed site entitled to
Government protection.  I might even write letters if it were
clear what was being planned.
 
                                   Sincerely yours,
                                   Stephen Miller
                                   JANET: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

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