Shakespeare's Globe receives £1.5m from private donor

My Family actress Zoe Wanamaker is the Globe's honorary president

An anonymous private donor has given £1.5m to Shakespeare's Globe, the theatre has announced.

The money will go towards the £7m needed to build the Indoor Jacobean Theatre - aimed to be the most complete recreation of an English renaissance indoor theatre.

The donor has also pledged to double the donation, providing the Globe manages to raise £1.5m by itself.

Work is scheduled to start in October following the Globe's summer season.

"Our wonderfully generous anonymous donor has given this money to enable us to complete the Indoor Theatre, but also by doubling donations we receive, we hope that this will encourage others to support this important project," said the Globe's chief executive, Neil Constable.

It is hoped the latest addition - which will seat just over 300 people and will feature two tiers of galleried seating and a pit seating area - will be ready to open from November 2013.

Actress Zoe Wanamaker, who is the Globe's honorary president, said: "It is a wonderful thing in this day and age to build a new theatre, a continuum in our culture, which perpetuates literature and art and performance, and encourages an exploration into the unfolding of British drama."

The My Family star is also the daughter of Sam Wanamaker, the director and actor who originally founded the Globe.