{"id":116306,"date":"2016-09-02T09:36:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T13:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu?p=116306&preview_id=116306"},"modified":"2016-09-02T16:33:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T20:33:23","slug":"first-folio-exhibition-opens-uconn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2016\/09\/first-folio-exhibition-opens-uconn\/","title":{"rendered":"First Folio Exhibit Opens at UConn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year when a previously unknown first edition of the collected works of William Shakespeare was discovered in Scotland, the extensive media coverage demonstrated why the book known as \u201cThe First Folio\u201d is so revered. With no known copies of Shakespeare\u2019s plays written in his own hand, the Folio is the most direct link to the Bard of Avon, who continues to tower unchallenged above all writers in the English language.<\/p>\n

The exhibition of one of the 233 remaining copies of the Folio, \u201cFirst Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare,\u201d will be on display at the William Benton Museum of Art at UConn from Sept. 1 to 25.<\/p>\n

The traveling exhibition<\/a> is stopping at just one institution in each of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare\u2019s death. The tour is a partnership between The Folger Shakespeare Library, Cincinnati Museum Center, and the American Library Association.<\/p>\n

The First Folio is the first collected edition of 36 Shakespeare plays published by two of his fellow actors in 1623, seven years after the Bard\u2019s death on April 23. The collection includes 18 plays that would otherwise have been lost, including \u201cMacbeth,\u201d Julius Caesar,\u201d \u201cTwelfth Night,\u201d \u201cThe Tempest,\u201d \u201cAntony and Cleopatra,\u201d \u201cThe Comedy of Errors,\u201d and \u201cAs You Like It.\u201d<\/p>\n

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shakespeare160901a120<\/div>
The First Folio exhibition opened at the Benton Museum on Sept. 1. UConn is the only location in Connecticut to host the traveling exhibit, which is on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library. (Ryan Glista\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"shakespeare160901a079\"<\/a>
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First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. dating to 1623. The copy on display at UConn is one of only 233 copies in existence. The (Ryan Glista\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"shakespeare160901a084\"<\/a>
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The exhibition at Benton Museum includes costumes on loan from the Hartford Stage. Shown here is the costume for Gertrude in Shakespeare's Hamlet, worn by Kate Forbes in the Hartford Stage production. (Ryan Glista\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"shakespeare160901a043\"<\/a>
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The costume for Ophelia, worn by Brittany Vicars in the Hartford Stage production of 'Hamlet.' (Ryan Glista\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"FirstFoliosFolgerShakespeareLibrary\"<\/a>
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A copy of the First Folio on display at the Folger Shakespeare Library. (Folger Shakespeare Library Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"FirstFolio_TableContents_FirstFolioFolger\"<\/a>
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The table of contents from the First Folio.<\/div><\/div>\"shakespeare160901a110cropped\"<\/a>
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When exhibited, The First Folio is open to 'Hamlet' Act 3, Scene 1. (Ryan Glista\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"FirstFolioHamletPage_crop2\"<\/a>
FirstFolioHamletPage_crop2<\/div>
The page containing the soliloquy that may be the best known in all of Shakespeare\u2019s writings, which begins: 'To be, or not to be? That is the question.'<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Lindsay Cummings, assistant professor of theatre studies who teaches Shakespeare classes, says working on the effort to bring the First Folio to UConn helped her to rediscover the complicated process of making the book and the source of the ongoing scholarly interest in Shakespeare\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no plays or poems in Shakespeare\u2019s own handwriting, only what was transcribed for the acting companies and, later, printers,\u201d she says. \u201cSpelling of words could be changed because spelling wasn\u2019t standard. We know there are typographical errors. Because it was so expensive to print, they would set out 12 copies and go over them and use pages in the book with the typos and not correct them until the next printing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the First Folio was published, several of Shakespeare\u2019s plays were printed in the format known as \u201cquarto\u201d editions. Printing formats are differentiated by the number of folds in the printed sheet that resulted in variations in the text due to the size of the page. Quartos have pages folded twice in half for a smaller book and folios are pages folded just once. Depending on which printing form was used, scholars make notations such as Q1 for quarto editions, and F2 for folios, when noting text variations in the plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents often take for granted the material that\u2019s sitting in front of them. They think somehow it was preserved and now I have it. Talking about the history of how the First Folio was made helps make the process of history very real,\u201d Cummings says. \u201cJust think about why a book is important. Students are used to instant information. They want to read their books on electronic devices. But it raises interesting questions to me of books as objects. Students have a different relationship with the object of a book.\u201d<\/p>\n

When exhibited, The First Folio is open to Act 3, Scene 1, from \u201cHamlet,\u201d the page containing the soliloquy that is perhaps the best known in all of Shakespeare\u2019s writings which begins: \u201cTo be, or not to be? That is the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummings says Shakespearian scholars study \u201ccrucial textual variations\u201d in the passage, but visitors to the Benton Museum will simply enjoy seeing the most famous speech in the English language in its original form.<\/p>\n

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Brittany Vicars as Ophelia in the Hartford Stage production of ‘Hamlet,’ The costume is on display at the Benton Museum of Art. (T. Charles Erickson Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Zach Appleman as Hamlet in the Hartford Stage production of ‘Hamlet.’ The costume is part of the exhibition ‘First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare.’ (T. Charles Erickson Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the month-long run of the First Folio, the Benton Museum is also offering a \u201cCulture of Shakespeare\u201d exhibit to complement the First Folio, featuring art on loan from the Wadsworth Atheneum, costumes from the Hartford Stage performances of Shakespeare plays, and posters designed by students from the UConn Design Center to commemorate the visit of the First Folio to campus.<\/p>\n

UConn will also present a variety of related academic and cultural programming in its venues such as the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, libraries, and lecture halls. The activities will include a Connecticut Repertory Theatre production of a Shakespeare play, workshops for high school English teachers, a puppet adaptation of \u201cMacbeth,\u201d a related exhibit on \u201cThe Culture of Shakespeare\u201d at the Benton, a musical performance, and other events. For an events listing, go to shakespeare.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In celebration of the Folio\u2019s stay at UConn, Connecticut Repertory Theatre will open their season with Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear, which will play in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre from Oct. 6 to 16. King Lear is a play that has fascinated audiences for more than 400 years and is often considered as Shakespeare\u2019s greatest achievement. As the aging monarch resolves to retire and divide his kingdom, his family and country are torn apart in the process, and the king\u2019s descent into madness begins. The once proud monarch is forced to wrestle with morality as he confronts his own mortality. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, \u201cNo man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear.\u201d<\/p>\n

For information go to shakespeare.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn is also presenting a variety of related academic and cultural programs to complement the exhibition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":116444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,1914,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1918],"class_list":["post-116306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-sfa","category-uconn-storrs"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 19:36:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116306"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116511,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116306\/revisions\/116511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/116444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116306"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=116306"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=116306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}