English playhouses developed from inn courtyards, the usual place for performances before the 16th century. These had galleries round the edges and were open in the middle. The open-air theatre was a...
For it's shape--it looks like a globe without a top? No, ALL the theatres then looked like that. It's probably got to do with the idea that the actors could show you anything or anywhere in the...
No it wasn't. The ancient Greeks and Romans built very effective outdoor theatres many of which are in use today, 1500 years and more before the Globe was built in 1599. But the Globe was not even...