What was different structurally different about The Globe Theatre than todays theaters?

Answer 1

Theatres built in the last 50 years more closely resemble Elizabethan theatres than those built in the previous 300 years. In the Restoration theatre which arose after the Puritan ban on theatre was lifted in the 1660s, audiences became increasingly interested in complex and elaborate sets. Elaborate sets required a stage with large wings (spaces to the side) and flies (spaces above). The stage was therefore enclosed on both sides and above, with only one side visible to the audience. A large archway (proscenium) was built to cover up these storage areas and to allow for the drawing of a curtain for the long and tedious breaks while the complex sets were changed. This was markedly different from the Elizabethan theatre where the stage was thrust out into the audience and had minimal sets and no curtains. The availability of readily controlled electric theatre lights meant that curtains were obsolete (since you just had to kill the lights), and a lot of effects could be suggested by lighting rather than clumsy sets. Throughout the twentieth century, directors and playwrights have increasingly used simpler sets which could again be used with a thrust stage or even with theatre in the round (where the audience surrounds the stage on all sides). A number of new theatres are built to this pattern, but all modern theatres have one difference from Elizabethan ones--they require a large power supply for all the lights!

Answer 2

In today's theatres- it is structured so that the audience is on one side facing the stage, but in the Globe Theatre the audience was in a circular shape surrounding the stage.