When Chris and I went to the library last Saturday, we happened to be in time to see something special: the Shakespeare First Folio was on exhibit.  And also in a special “appearance” in this exhibit they also had a copy of the Third Folio. The exhibit was in its final days, but we managed to snag some same-day tickets to see it while we were there on Saturday. 

Now, I had heard of the First Folio, but wasn’t really sure exactly what it was until we went to see it. It’s the first collected publication of 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623 a few years after his death. Crucially, it includes some plays that were performed but not published during his lifetime, which means that had they not been published, some of his more famous works (nowadays) might have been lost. Plays like Macbeth, As You Like It, and The Tempest.  Crazy to think now that they might have been lost, eh?

Anyway, it was interesting to see the big format of the book, with the typeface that emphasized different parts (in the page that was open, the first letters in the lines of a soliloquy almost could have formed an acrostic; in the Third Folio pages, the boxes in the layout for the different scenes gave an entirely different feel to the page.

After we saw it, I then read an article in a British newspaper about how Shakespeare’s last set of plays were done under a different monarch (he first wrote while Elizabeth I was on the throne, and then continued while James I reigned). It didn’t say it in the exhibit (at least, not that I noticed), but I having read that article, I now wonder if those plays weren’t published by Shakespeare because he was too busy being a “King’s Man” (a royal appointment), which meant he was constantly at the monarch’s beck and call to arrange for his troupe to give performances at the palace.

In other words, it was hard to be the bard. As it were. Right, well, that’s a song from the musical Something Rotten!, a fanciful and not at all historically based musical which posits that Shakespeare was a famous rock-star of a playwright during his lifetime.

At least that song is actually related to today’s post…

In any case, seeing the exhibit on our trip to the library was a little bit of serendipity on Saturday. It’s a traveling exhibit and I don’t know where it goes next, but if you should ever stumble onto a chance to see a Shakespeare Folio in person, I’d highly recommend it.

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Bonus clips from Something Rotten!

• Nostradamus’ nephew predicts that the next big thing in the theatre will be A Musical. (Here’s  a more complete version with all the lyrics: A Musical- with lyrics).
• The song Hard to be the Bard done in full costume, in a special performance at the White House
• Welcome to the Renaissance – the opening number from Something Rotten!

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