[Shakespeare’s bust]
[Illustration of the area where the theater was, including the River Thames]

HERE STOOD THE GLOBE PLAYHOUSE OF SHAKESPEARE
1598 - 1613

COMMEMORATED BY THE SHAKESPEARE READING SOCIETY OF LONDON AND BY SUBSCRIBERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND INDIA

In this place stood the Globe Theater, the theater built for the playing company in which William Shakespeare was. The place that was established in 1598 operated until 1613 when it was completely burned down (probably as a result of a cannon shot in the Henry VIII play that set fire to the thatched roof of the building).
A year later, a theater with a tiled roof was built in the same place until its closure in 1642.
The place now known as the Globe Theater is a reconstruction of the theater built in 1997 about 200 meters from this place.

The place where the sign is located was photographed on the same day Click for a larger image