Pictured above: Angus Vail and his wife Julie Daugherty on the stage of the Container Globe, The stage of the Container Globe: the door openings and balconies match the original Globe, Container Globe’s merchandising takes a page from The Ramones, A fight scene during Henry IV Part I by the Starling Shakespeare Company
7 years ago this month was the first time I got involved with Angus and the Container Globe by selling some of the 20’ high cube shipping containers that made up the seating areas. Since then, we have provided the rest of the seating areas, the second story of the stage, a variety of other containers for storage at the theater and the support structure for the stage.
Needless to say, Angus and I have talked about the Container Globe – for years. We have gone from conceptual drawings to reality; we have worked with multiple welders, shops, drivers, sites for the project and more. The project found its home in Highland Park, MI. Angus has worked so hard to raise the money, get the architectural drawings, manage the project, make endless trips to Detroit, and drive the forklift around to move the containers (maybe that was not a hardship). More recently he has been focusing on the more traditional theater-based tasks of lining up the Starling Shakespeare Company and others to fill the theater and all of the other work that goes into marketing, permitting and planning for having a crowd at the theater. We talk less often than before, but 7 years of talking, planning and working together has sure built up a lot of excitement!
Angus has arranged a few casual evenings before this as well as a Techno night in June, but this was the first official Shakespeare company to perform one of The Bard’s complete plays at the theater. It was a perfect, hot, sunny day that turned into a beautiful evening for the Twelfth Night. The Starling Shakespeare Company was the perfect choice for opening the theater. The company, comprised of five actors, took on both plays, taking on several roles per actor with minimal accessory changes to alert the audience who they were playing. Along with a cape, a crown, a hat, a skirt, or a vest, the actors would also take on a completely different demeanor, accent and voice. At times, it was hard to remember there were only 5 of them!
Henry IV Part 1 was on in the heat of the day. While it was a gorgeous day, it was hot. Everyone sought out seating in the containers for shade, which left the general seating area looking a bit bare. Despite the heat, the crowd was completely drawn into royal intrigue that topped off with a great battle scene.
The Motor City Youth Theater was fantastic. Comprised of youth actors from grades 3-12, they presented 3 acts inspired from Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and a Macbeth “Who’s on First” skit. The young actors did a great job!
The evening cooled down, and the crowd grew. Angus kicked off the evening performance on the balcony of the stage in a Container Globe shirt and a ruff, a frilled collar common at Shakespeare’s time. Check out the video here, where he introduces the theater and the Starling Shakespeare Company for the evening. For now, the audience was all on the main level of the containers and in the general seating area in the middle.
The evening performance was theTwelfth Night. This comedy has it all – romance, shipwreck, twins, mistaken identities. And with 5 actors playing all the roles, it made for even more comedy! They pulled off the farcical comedy of 3 people hiding behind a tree, then a guitar, towel and beach ball with impeccable timing. Malvolio was the perfect character to root against, but when “he” (a woman in this case due to limited actors) came out in his yellow socks and danced around to woo Olivia, the audience was in stitches. The final scene not only had Viola and Sebastian played by the same actor, but Olivia and Sir Andrew Aguecheek were also played by one actor, making for some highly creative and fun staging.
For Angus Vail, the Container Globe is a punk rock reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic Globe from 1599. This combination makes perfect sense to Angus. Aside from the fact that Shakespeare and punk rock are two passions of his, he sees Shakespeare as a bit of a rebel in the way that he completely rewrote all the rules of writing plays, and he even made up new words if the play needed them. And most of all, he created a new style of theater. The Globe was an outdoor theater where part of the audience was standing right up near the stage, and they would often interact (and misbehave) with the actors. The stage was raised up to shoulder height - to make it difficult to climb up on stage because sometimes the audience would try to join in the sword fighting and other onstage activities – quite a mosh pit!
Angus wanted to bring back the immediacy of the theater like it was in Shakespeare’s time instead of having people sit in dark theaters away from the actors. Instead, he wanted to encourage that more immediate audience reaction to the play.
He also wanted to bring back the outdoor experience that is mobile. The theater is a way to bring the arts and local economic development to the neighborhoods where it is placed.
What Angus has created is even more than that original plan, even before it is completed. It is a welcoming space that is very approachable. He has invited local artists to paint murals on the containers. He has a ton of local support in Detroit for the project as well as the support of the Shakespearean community.
Angus hasn’t left the punk out of the equation, either. He has taken the spin on the Ramones logo and the Sex Pistols to create the Container Globe’s merchandise, showing that this is not your run-of-the-mill Shakespeare theater.
Currently, the theater is in Detroit, but it will be mobile. There are a few more elements to the theater that are being finalized. The containers will ultimately stack 3 high, and ideally, they will be on footings, so the people sitting in the containers will be up a bit higher than the people in the middle area. This would allow for a more authentic Globe experience, as in Shakespeare’s time, which would have been a standing area. The final connectors and stairs are being finalized. While Angus plans on keeping the theater in Detroit for the time being, it is nice to know that he can bring Shakespeare to other communities down the line.
A local restaurant created a concession stand out of one of the seating containers to raise money for the theater
The Starling Shakespeare Company creates a shipwreck in Twelfth Night
Since we generally like to talk more about shipping containers in this blog, here are a few technical details about this project.
Currently the Container Globe is only 2 containers high. Ultimately, it will be 3 containers high all the way around. Angus has invited local artists to paint murals on some of the containers.
The seating containers are all made from 20’ high cube shipping containers. They have one 20’ side cut partially out to allow for viewing the stage but kept some original wall intact as a balcony for safety. On the non-door end of the container, the wall was cut to allow for exiting the container while keeping some wall intact for safety. The doors were cut off, and the wall sections that remained from the opposite ends were installed to provide the same end wall for the container configuration. There are enough of the 20’ high cube seating containers to complete the container 3 levels high.
The four 40’ high cube containers that make up the stage are raised up and held together by fabricated footings. The upper level is currently accessed by ladder.
The stage is made up of four 40’ high cube containers. 2 containers for the first level and 2 for the upper level. The cut-outs for doorways match the locations for the original Globe Theater. We did not make the first floor, but we did do the 2nd floor. We made the balconies removable per Angus’ design. In addition, his architect designed a structure for the whole stage to sit on that holds the containers together for security and raises them up above the audience.
Although we did not make a merchandise container, we certainly could make one if anyone is interested. The food container is one of the seating containers converted over to a concession stand.
The Container Globe light up at night
If you are interested in seeing some Shakespeare at the Container Globe, you’re in luck:
Much Ado About Nothing
By the The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company
Saturday, September 7, 2024
You can find out more on Facebook or book your tickets on EventBrite
Other places to find Container Theater:
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