All the world, to Shakespeare, was a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
So goes the famous quote from
As You Like It and if those sentiments were true, the Bard would view this exhibition as a collection of props.
As part of the London 2012 Festival
this special exhibition at the British Museum focuses on London, as it was 400 years ago, through the perspective of Shakespeare's plays.
Bringing together 190 objects, many from private collections, the exhibition has been very well received by critics, including
Richard Dorment of the Telegraph, who calls it "one of the best I've ever seen anywhere."
The exhibition explores artefacts of the time, as well as items linked to Shakespeare's work, such as 'the bruised helmet and bended sword' among his funeral achievements, which were on display in Westminster Abbey in Shakespeare's time and written into the prologue of Act V of
Henry V.
The exhibition also explores the notoriously dangerous experience of theatre-going at the time, and the impact Shakespeare's plays have had globally.
Linking together the many objects in a way that brings not only them, but Shakespeare's plays, to life, this exhibition will be the stuff as dreams are made on for Shakespearean scholars and newcomers alike.