IT BEGAN as American dream, a £30 million sterling project that would never see the light of day. Yet last night, defying the critics and cynics, the first Shakespearean play in 350 years opened at the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London.
To a packed house, with audience members braving the elements, the outdoor theatre's metaphorical curtain rose on Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In keeping with the Bard's original productions, the performance took place in daylight, without scenery and certainly no curtains.
However this historical event was nearly postponed after one of the leading actors broke his ankle as he swung from a rope during Tuesday's dress rehearsal. The understudy came to the rescue.
Despite the accident the play's director, Jack Shepherd, was ecstatic with the audience's response. "Electric atmosphere, it is simply electric. No scenery, no modern gimmicks, it's all just how it should be."
But it was Sam Wanamaker, the American actor and director, whose vision and power of persuasion made all this possible. In 1949 he arrived in London for the first time expecting to visit the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare produced his greatest plays.
However to his "shock and disgust" all that was left of the theatre was a brass plate on a brewery wall opposite the original site. Worse still, where the Globe Theatre had once stood, he found a parking lot marked "sold for redevelopment".
He immediately became a man with a mission, to reconstruct and reproduce Shakespeare's original open air Globe theatre. After spending the last 24 years of his life raising money for his project, Wanamaker died of cancer in 1993, shortly after the building work had begun.
But it is his £30 million dream that now stands on the South Bank of the Thames, looking out towards St Paul's Cathedral, just 300 metres from the original Globe site. This new theatre will be the sixth largest in London.
Shakespeare's Globe was London's first purpose built playhouse. It opened in 1599, when the capital's 20,000 population was 160,000 and people were estimated to have gone to the theatre every week.
Although theatre burnt down in 1613 after a spark from a cannon to fire to the thatched roof during a performance of Henry V, it was rebuilt immediately. But twenty six years after the Bard's death, the Puritans closed the theatre in 1642. Two years Inter it was finally demolished.
As far as 20th century safety regulations allow, the new Globe has been built using original materials and construction techniques. Although this theatre also has a thatched roof, the first to be allowed in London since the Great Fire in 1666, buried under the arches is a sprinkler system and the reeds have been coated in fire retardant.
The 20 sided theatre's walls are made of English oak beams; even the bolts holding the planks of the three tier gallery together are made of wood.
The 1996 Globe also adheres to the authentic concept of having 500 of the 1,500 audience standing at the foot of the stage or pit, where, in traditional Elizabethan style, they can hurl abuse at the actors. As critics have suggested that these "modern day groundlings" will not relish getting soaked by a sudden downpour, the theatre has made one 20th century concession. Emergency plastic macs will be on sale for £2.
"The audience are physically poised to be active," explains Michael Holden, the theatre's chief executive. "And they need to be made to feel part of the play."
If you don't fancy standing for two and a half hours, the average length of a Shakespeare play, then gallery seats are available for £8 and £15. Again, as the oak seats are incredibly hard, cushions can be hired for £1.20.
Performances will take place in the afternoon and early evening, to recreate Shakespeare's detailed lighting conditions as outlined in many of his plays' prologues.
"The Globe is to be used, like an original musical instrument, to rediscover something of the original interpretation of the plays," explains Lucy Beevor, the theatre's spokeswoman.
Although the new theatre is nearly complete, the neighbouring bar and restaurant are still under construction, so it will not be officially opened until next June.
The whole Globe complex, which will include an indoor theatre based upon 1617 designs by Inigo Jones and an exhibition centre, is due to open on September 21st, 1999 - the 400th anniversary of the first recorded performance at Shakespeare's original Globe.
However as archaeologists continue to excavate the original site, new evidence about the construction of Shakespeare's Globe has recently come to light, which might mean a complete re thinking of the theatre's design and even more rebuilding. The most pressing question at the moment is whether the famous circular wooden stage is facing the right way.
Mr Michael Holden, the theatre's chief executive, seems unfazed by these latest developments. "Our business is to create an authentic reconstruction. I'll pick up the building and spin it round if necessary. Theatre is an organic process, so why shouldn't the Globe be?" he says.
The Globe will not just be restricted to performing the Bard's works. Mr Michael Rylance, the theatre's artistic director, says he hopes playwrights will be inspired by the theatre and write specially for it.
"I would like to put on plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries, the medieval, Greek and Roman dramatic sources he worked from and new plays specially written for this theatre," he says.
But the new Globe cannot totally shut out the 20th century world. One can only wonder how Shakespeare's imaginative production skills would have coped with interference from ringing mobile phones and aircraft noise. For the theatre is directly under Heathrow's flight path.