How Production Designer Fiona Crombie Recreated Shakespeare’s Iconic Theater With A “Rough And Rustic” Aesthetic For ‘Hamnet’
When director Chloé Zhao was planning out the scenes in the Globe Theatre for Hamnet, production designer Fiona Crombie says there were more than a couple of reasons they couldn’t film in the actual location. Not only is the Globe still an active theater, but it now looks different from how it would have back then.
“The Globe Theatre that we see today is historically a different Globe than what we wanted to have in our film,” says Crombie. “It’s actually the second Globe, the first burnt down, so we had creative freedom to make a Globe that felt appropriate for our story and also fit our aesthetic.”
The Globe Theatre stage built for ‘Hamnet’
Fiona Crombie/Focus Features
- “The theater was built as a place to put the play on, as opposed to being a centerpiece itself, which is more like what the Globe is now. Ours was rough and rustic and simple because I wanted everybody’s eyes to be on stage.”
- Crombie built out their Globe to work as a full theater, including spaces not shown in the film and areas for stage hands to deliver props to actors.
- “Even though in the film it’s broken up and edited, we actually ran a big chunk of the play Hamlet and filmed it.”
Backstage of ‘Hamnet’s Globe Theatre
Fiona Crombie/Focus Features
- “We dressed the backstage as though it could put on any of Shakespeare’s plays to that point, so there was a nod to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and some others.”
- The dressing for the backstage included a full armory, costumes and oyster shells, which Crombie found were used to hold makeup.
Side view of the Globe Theatre stage in ‘Hamnet’
Fiona Crombie/Focus Features
- Illustrations of the original Globe had mostly exaggerated features, so the scale was up to their interpretation.
- “The biggest light bulb moment for me was discovering that the wood could have actually been stolen from another theater that had been dismantled, so it’s not bespoke. It was sort of gathered and put together to create the theater.”
- The actual Globe would have Will looking at the audience from above, not backstage, but Crombie wanted to have a more personal touch.
