大象传媒

For just a moment, imagine you鈥檙e living 400 years ago. You and a syndicate of publishers and printers decide to print the plays of William Shakespeare. The great playwright has been dead for seven years, but you are determined to overcome a series of significant obstacles to get his work down on paper. It鈥檚 an expensive undertaking, so money must be raised. Different plays are owned by different people, and they must be tracked down and obtained. Different versions of plays exist, so which ones will be published? Ultimately, though, in 1623 London 750 copies of the folio make it to print.

Fast forward 400 years and Shakespeare fans worldwide are celebrating the anniversary of this event. While about only 230 First Folios still exist, each one is a reminder that we wouldn鈥檛 have many of Shakespeare鈥檚 plays today without its publication. 大象传媒 and the University of British Columbia are taking part in this worldwide celebration with a series of events at 大象传媒鈥檚 Harbour Centre campus and the BMO Theatre Centre on November 17^th and 18^th.

On November 17^th, the public can view UBC鈥檚 First Folio at Harbour Centre. This is one of only two First Folios in Canada. 大象传媒 English鈥檚 Professor Paul Budra, who first saw the folio when it was on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery, says it鈥檚 a good quality folio. In fact, it鈥檚 better quality than the other folio in Canada, held in the University of Toronto鈥檚 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.

After the folio viewing, the public can attend a , which Budra will be moderating. On the evening of the 18^th, actors from Bard on the Beach will be performing a staged reading of Budra鈥檚 original play, , which introduces the key historical figures in the story of how the First Folio came to be. For Budra, writing a play was a new challenge that he took on for this event.

鈥淚 had written for television back in the late 鈥�80s, but I鈥檇 never written a play, play,鈥� says Budra. 鈥淚 wrote a scene and sent it to our little collective of people, and they liked it. Dean Paul Gibson at Bard said, 鈥業 was laughing out loud when I read it,鈥� so I wrote the whole thing.鈥�

Budra also enjoyed the collaborative experience of writing a play and getting feedback from people at Bard. The challenge was to make 17th century printing press techniques interesting.

鈥淭he idea was just to make it entertaining and communicate as much information as I could, and also work in snippets from some of the plays,鈥� he says.

So, why 400 years later, do we still care about Shakespeare and his plays? For Budra, it鈥檚 because the Bard鈥檚 an amazing storyteller and poet, and it鈥檚 possible to reinvent him every time one of his plays is staged.

鈥淓very time the director makes a decision, or an actor makes a decision, new possibilities open up,鈥� says Budra. 鈥淣o matter how many times I鈥檝e seen Hamlet, every single time it鈥檚 different. Every single time something new jumps out at me. The sign of great art is that it never gets boring, there鈥檚 always another level to be discovered whether it鈥檚 music or visual arts or whatever and Shakespeare has it in spades.鈥�