The Tempest and the Thames

Lovely little display at the National Maritime Museum showcasing Dulwich College's copy Shakespeare's First Folio as part of the Folio 400 celebrations.

This was a lovely example of how a museum can tell a story quickly and clearly with just a few objects. They had the two volumes of the folio open on sections which related to the sea, the opening page of The Tempest and a section from Richard II which Clarence dreams about shipwrecks.

These were cleverly paired two other documents or the school, a handwritten play script from about 1605 to show what the plays would have looked like before they were published and a petition  to the Lord High admiral from Thames watermen from around 1590 asking for the Rose Theatre to be reopened probably after a plague as they were losing money.

It's well worth popping into the Maritime London gallery at the museum if you are there to see it.

Closes 24 September 2023