Originally built in 1599, Shakespeare’s Globe has been making London great for over 420 years. Okay, there was quite a long period where it was closed: contrary to popular belief, it bounced back quickly from the 1613 fire that destroyed it, but those joyless puritan A-holes in the Long Parliament had it closed and pulled down in 1642. A mere 355 years later, though, it reopened in 1997 thanks to visionary American director Sam Wanamaker (Zoë’s dad!) who sadly died before its completion. But it really is a job well done. The Globe is the best of London. Yes, it’s a famous tourist attraction and temple to the works of William Shakespeare. But all four of its artistic directors – Mark Rylance, Dominic Dromgoole, Emma Rice and Michelle Terry – have brought an idiosyncratic, often genuinely anarchic, sensibility to bear that respects the glorious unruliness of the Elizabethan theatregoing experience. If you haven’t stayed up for one of its legendary Midnight Matinees, have you even been to the theatre in London? And certainly don’t get it into your head that this is trad Shakespeare: the work is bold, daring and sometimes completely misses the mark. But that’s okay: £5 a standing ticket and with you having every right to bring your own tinnies and snacks (NB no glassware) it is probably the best value major theatre in the entire world, friend to the casual visitor and informed local alike. Other theatres may be more ‘important’ in terms of the actual world theatre scene, but none adds more to London’s character than the Globe