Most people come to the Globe to stand in the yard or take a bench and watch a play. A newer door on Bankside leads the other way, towards shelves, archive boxes and a table to read at.
The Research and Collections Centre has been taking researcher appointments since Tuesday 22 September 2026, and the Globe describes it as open to all. That phrase is the point. You do not need a university post or a thesis title to walk in with a question. The centre exists for books, archive materials and special collections that anyone curious about the theatre can explore.
The Main Library Collection is reference only, so everything is consulted on the spot. That suits the setting. Nothing here is for borrowing, and nobody is hurrying you towards a gift shop. You sit, you read, you follow one volume to the next. For a theatre built on the idea that Shakespeare is best met in the room, it feels apt that the books are met in a room too.
The Institutional Archive holds the record of the organisation itself, the working life of a company that has staged plays on the Thames since the reconstructed Globe opened in the 1990s. Alongside it sits the Pentagram Archive, a set of architectural papers on the reconstruction of the Globe. Rebuilding an Elizabethan playhouse in timber, on the south bank, was an unusual undertaking, and these papers let you look at the building as a problem that someone had to draw, argue over and solve. A run of rare books completes the picture.
There is a screen side to it as well. Many Globe productions can be watched on demand through the Globe Player, which makes a useful companion to the reading. Read about a staging in the archive, then see how it looked and sounded.
A few practical notes. This is an appointment-led space, so plan ahead and check the Globe's research and collections page for how to arrange a visit. Arrive with a specific question or a single production in mind rather than a vague wish to browse, because a focused starting point makes the shelves far more rewarding. Bring a notebook. And if you can, pair the visit with a walk along Bankside afterwards, since the theatre next door will make more sense for the hour you have just spent with its paperwork.
Best for A rainy afternoon on the South Bank.
