Shakespeare Unauthorized

"To be or not to be … I there's the point"? An unexpected experience of one of the world's foremost collections of the Bard.

Integrating traditional and media experiences, C&G Partners created a theatrical environment for the Boston Public Library exhibition that commemorates Shakespeare’s 400th death anniversary. Providing contemporary viewers with fresh ways of interacting with the Bard’s complex legacy, the exhibition makes public the largest collection of Shakespeare’s work at any public institution. “All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players,” the playwright’s classic phrase from As You Like It, is the inspiration behind the design. Translucent elements evocative of both stagecraft and bookbinding are used to delineate space. Printed theatrical scrim with innovative projections were strategically arrayed so visitors can dramatically see one another as they move through exhibition sections. To bring life to the original Shakespeare works featured in the exhibition including Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice,  infographics and comparative text displays “explode” the manuscripts and highlight aspects of the collection objects. Digital interactive kiosks are also on view, one of which allows viewers to digitally explore the entire famous First Folio printed in 1623, over 900 pages in length.