Much ado about something, four centuries later
On the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death this year, the campus is staging two significant Shakespearean events and edges closer to completing the canon for the second time
There’s much ado about William Shakespeare at CU-Boulder. To mark the the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death this year, the campus is staging two significant Shakespearean events.
In its 59th season, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) will move closer to performing all of Shakespeare’s canon for the second time—a feat most companies have yet to achieve once. And the published edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays, printed in 1623, will be exhibited on campus.
The festival’s mission and culture embrace the whole canon of 38 plays, not just the top six or seven, said Tim Orr, CSF’s producing artistic director.
“A lot of the titles that people come to see are those they read in high school or college,” Orr said.
Believing your friends rather than your wife can lead to madness and death, Othello (performed in 2015). Photo by Jennifer M Koskinen.
Believing your friends rather than your wife can lead to madness and death, Othello (performed in 2015). Photo by Jennifer M Koskinen.
Those plays are popular because they’re familiar, he added. However, “Trolius and Cressida is hugely entertaining. It’s just as exciting as Macbeth and Richard III, so that’s why we’re bringing it out. It’s important to produce these lesser-knowns that are no less great, to get them back into the awareness of audiences so that we can expand the category of well-known popular titles.”
This season, the festival will continue its progress toward completing the canon next year, during its 60th season. CSF first became one of a handful of American companies to complete the canon in 1975.
Completing the canon a second time will propel CSF into rarefied ranks of accomplished theater companies, but the initiative means producing lesser-known plays. Audiences are familiar with “greatest hits” such as Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. They are less likely to know other plays.
It’s not just about a historic book. We’re utilizing the First Folio to think about how arts and culture crossed disciplines—literature, arts, medicine, science and intellectual pursuits—thinking holistically about society during Shakespeare’s time to the present day. It will be a snapshot of culture during that time period.”
The festival’s 2016 season will feature productions of Comedy of Errors, Troilus and Cressida and Cymbeline, as well as Henry VI Part 2. The festival will also premiere Equivocation, by contemporary playwright Bill Cain.
“People are extremely curious about this season, and that’s showing in ticket sales,” said Orr. “This season to date is selling 14 percent better than last year.”
Meanwhile, the ˛ĘĂń±¦µä is Colorado’s only host for the First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, an exhibition on national tour from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The exhibition tour, which commemorates the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, will be open to the public at the CU Art Museum Aug. 9-31.
Gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here: A scene from the 2015 production of Henry V. Photo by Jennifer M Koskinen.
Published in 1623, seven years after his death, the First Folio is the first complete collection of Shakespeare’s works. It preserves 36 of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, 18 of those plays would be lost.
Gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here: A scene from the 2015 production of Henry V. Photo by Jennifer M Koskinen.
The casualties would include Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra, along with famous phrases including “sound and fury” and “the ides of March.”
When it is displayed in the CU Art Museum, First Folio will be opened to the page featuring Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy. An exhibition exploring Shakespeare’s impact, then and now, will be accompanied by digital content and interactive activities.
A companion exhibition to First Folio will also be on view at the CU Art Museum, related to the idea of a cabinet of curiosities, showing the role that wonder and curiosity played during the Elizabethan era.
A range of activities for all ages will coincide with the First Folio exhibition. Topics include comic books, Elizabethan food, and the music, art and science of Shakespeare’s time. A campus website listing the activities is scheduled to launch in late April.
“It’s not just about a historic book,” said Sandra Firmin, director and chief curator at the CU Art Museum.
“We’re utilizing the First Folio to think about how arts and culture crossed disciplines—literature, arts, medicine, science and intellectual pursuits—thinking holistically about society during Shakespeare’s time to the present day. It will be a snapshot of culture during that time period.”
Kenna Bruner is an editor at the .