A walk around the historic sites of the London theatre world is a great way to get behind the sprawl of modern London. On our walk, we will reconstruct London as it was in past centuries, and understand the social and artistic forces that were born here and that still underpin our world.

We will begin our walk at the Globe Theatre, the recent reconstruction of the playhouse where many of Shakespeare's plays were premiered. Standing in the Globe is a transporting experience: it takes us back to a time when the theatre was a public arena, when plays were a part of everyday life. At the same time, as we explore the surrounding area, we will discover that the theatre was for long so feared that it was banished across the river.

Crossing the river, we will find ourselves transported two centuries forwards, to an era when two great Royal theatres, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, dominated London's social life. We will explore one of the theatres, both of which have a two-hundred-year legacy, and talk about a few of the legendary performances that gripped audiences in a way that no star could match today.

The story of how the theatre turned respectable is also the story of how London changed from an anarchic free-for-all into the proud, somewhat pompous Victorian capital that we see around us today. It's also the story of Shakespeare: of how an obscure boy from the English Midlands awkwardly and haltingly became recognized as the greatest dramatist the world has known.