This is the first post in a series that will explore some of the objects and themes in ‘Shakespeare’s Stories’, an exhibition by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
This exhibition is part of the World Shakespeare Festival which is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012 Festival, and it explores the themes of home, identity and journey in the plays Twelfth Night, The Tempest and The Comedy of Errors.
Jan Blake, storyteller and curator of the ‘Shakespeare’s Stories’ exhibition, is in the Shakespeare Centre, which is the venue that focuses on The Tempest. Displayed here are three navigational instruments, kindly on loan from the British Museum. These would have been used to help travellers navigate the tides during Shakespeare’s time. Jan tells us a little more about the silver disc or map medal of Sir Francis Drake’s world Voyages dated to around 1590.
‘Shakespeare’s Stories opened on 21st April for Shakespeare’s birthday weekend and is on until the end of 2012. You can visit it in the Stratford Room of the Shakespeare Centre (through the Birthplace cafe on Henley Street), in the exhibition room in Hall’s Croft and in the Swan Bar of the Royal Shakespeare Company.