Whether they are groundlings queuing under the evasive London summer sun or experiencing their first play under the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse’s evocative candlelight, many audience members come to Shakespeare’s Globe to hear the words of a specific poet: William Shakespeare. This is, of course, a bit unsurprising—his name is on the building, after all. But in the almost thirty-year history of the Globe’s ‘radical theatrical experiment’, contemporary playwrights have frequently taken part in the creation of new work at the theatre, from crafting adaptations or re-writings of older plays (Shakespearean or otherwise) to generating completely new works of drama that depict characters and worlds that leave early modern England far behind.

But why stage new plays in a theatre so intrinsically linked to the work (and working conditions) of another playwright? Programming work by contemporary playwrights, commissioning new works, and collaborating with other writers were all parts of the theatrical business that Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have been well-versed in. Theatre-loving Londoners in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ensured that playwrights were constantly churning out new plays, each writer vying for the next box office hit that would keep the crowds coming and their patrons happy. The tight writing deadlines, ever-changing expectations of audience members, and competitive theatrical marketplace are aspects of the playwriting business that would’ve been as familiar to Shakespeare as they are to the playwrights of today, even if the plays themselves look and sound quite different.

Since premiering its first piece of new writing in 2002, the Globe has gone on to produce an impressive array of new work, often choosing to highlight topics or subjects that have received considerably less historical and theatrical attention than Shakespeare. Contemporary playwrights who write for the Globe certainly face challenges: both the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and the outdoor theatre present configurations and conditions unfamiliar to most twenty-first century writers, and the shadow of Shakespeare must loom large over anyone who writes for these spaces. But writing a new play for Shakespeare’s Globe also offers playwrights the opportunity to engage an audience consisting of people from all over the world with stories they may have never encountered before.

Globe audiences can experience this in action with playwright and performer Anne Odeke’s Princess Essex (13 September—26 October), an exuberant new play that tells the little-known story of Princess Dinubolu of Senegal, who became the first woman of colour to enter a UK beauty pageant in 1908. In the spirit of Princess Essex and the ability of new plays to highlight lesser-known stories or challenge the ways popular stories have traditionally been told, let’s look back on a few other pieces of new playwriting at the Globe that have done just that.

Nell Gwynn by Jessica Swale

Many audience members at the Globe will remember from their school days with Shakespeare that all the roles in his plays would have been played by men and boys during the playwright’s lifetime. Though women were always part of English performance culture, it wasn’t until after the Restoration of the monarchy that English women finally took to the public stages as actresses. One of the earliest and most famous of these pioneering professional actresses was the daring Nell Gwynn. Though Gwynn was a huge celebrity during her own day, rising from abject poverty to a successful stage career, her contributions to the theatre have been somewhat forgotten in popular memory and often are overshadowed by her long affair with King Charles II. Some Globe audience members may have had a pint at the pub bearing her name just a 30 minute walk away or have seen her rather exposing portrait at The National Portrait Gallery, but likely would have known little about Gwynn’s fascinating life: Swale’s play once again gave “pretty, witty Nell” the starring treatment she deserved.

After Edward by Tom Stuart

In a fascinating example of how new plays can be inspired by and speak back to the plays of Shakespeare’s England, Tom Stuart’s After Edward was performed in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in tandem with Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II. Stuart performed as the doomed king in both Edward II and After Edward, the latter of which he also wrote. After Edward begins where Edward II ends, after the king’s murder. Much has been said about Edward II’s probable homosexuality, and Marlowe’s play explores homosexual desire primarily through Edward’s clear and devoted love for the nobleman Piers Gaveston, who the king “dotes upon.” In After Edward, the King meets iconic LGBTQ+ characters including Gertrude Stein, Harvey Milk, and Quentin Crisp in a series of metatheatrical encounters. Offering a mediation on both past and current challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community, After Edward allowed the often obfuscated or censored queerness of Edward II a chance to be fully acknowledged and explored.

I, Joan by Charlie Josephine

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I, Joan of Arc calls upon devilish ‘fiends’ in a last-ditch effort to secure a French victory against the English, who view Joan as a ‘high-minded strumpet’ and ‘sorceress’. Joan, the saint known for prowess in battle, defiance of gender norms, and bravery in the face of incredible danger, has long been a subject of artistic endeavours beyond Shakespeare. But the legends surrounding Joan’s short yet incredible life make finding truth difficult. In I, Joan, playwright Charlie Josephine put a new spin on Joan’s story in an unapologetically queer piece that once again centred and celebrated LGBTQ+ history and resilience, resisting traditional expectations established by centuries of mythmaking around Joan. Full of energetic dance and movement, thrilling battles, moving monologues, and queer magic, I, Joan repositioned a figure that many audiences felt they knew, offering a revolutionary new look at a centuries-old hero.

Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights by Writer-in-Residence Hannah Khalil

While this new play took inspiration from the often told (and re-told) stories from One Thousand and One Nights, more commonly known in English as Arabian Nights, Globe Resident Writer Hannah Khalil (with contributions from Hanan al-Shaykh, Suhayla El-Bushra and Sara Shaarawi) departed from traditional over-simplified and exoticized depictions of the women in these tales to offer a new perspective on the legendary Scheherazade and the women surrounding her. In co-production with Tamasha, ‘a dedicated home for both emerging and established Global Majority artists’, Hakawatis put women of Arab heritage centre stage, allowing them to tell stories that countered the colonial lens through which One Thousand and One Nights is so often presented. As Hakawatis director (and Tamasha Artistic Director) Pooja Ghai explained, “having this piece of new writing in this building, I think, is an act of revolution itself”.

These four plays offer just a glimpse into the exciting and challenging contemporary plays that have featured on both of the Globe’s stages. Though it may be ‘Shakespeare’s’ Globe, new work at the theatre proves that the ‘wooden O’ can—and should—belong to, and be a platform for everyone.

FINIS.