S51 Ep7
Making Shakespeare: The First Folio
Premiere: 11/17/2023 | 01:53:59 | TV-PG |
Celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio, which saved 18
plays from being lost. Tracing the First Folio's story, the film also
spotlights how New York City's Public Theater presents Shakespeare's work for
today's audiences
With only half of Shakespeare's plays published before his death, often in
inaccurate and incomplete versions, the First Folio is the first published
collection of William Shakespeare's full plays. Produced seven years after
Shakespeare's death, it preserved the other half of the Bard's works
including beloved plays like "The Tempest," "Julius Caesar,"
"Twelfth Night" and "Macbeth" which would have otherwise been lost to time
As Professor Jonathan Bate explains: "The First Folio is the most important
secular book in the history of the Western World."
The new documentary Great Performances - Making Shakespeare: The First Folio
premieres Friday, November 17 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings)
pbs.org and the PBS App, during the 400th anniversary year of the printing
of the First Folio
Narrated by Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award winner Audra McDonald and from the
directors and producers of The WNET Group's Shakespeare Uncovered
Great Performances Making Shakespeare: The First Folio tells the story of
Shakespeare's fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell's enterprise to
create the book including the struggle to secure the finance, their difficulty
tracing the scripts, the dilemma of choosing between versions of the published
plays available, and the challenge of printing the 900-page volume with all the
complexities and inadequacies of 17th century printing techniques
Only approximately 750 First Folios have been printed, and these copies have
made their way around the world
Great Performances - Making Shakespeare: The First Folio showcases several
folios with notable owners including one examined by King Charles III that
was owned and cherished by King Charles I right up to his execution that
includes the markings he made inside. The film also uncovers the mystery
owner of a folio whose owner had remained anonymous for four centuries and
was revealed to be the celebrated English poet John Milton
Emmy Award-winning actor Brian Cox and wife and fellow actor Nicole Ansari
also discover more about great American Shakespeare lover and folio collector
who amassed a third of all known folios, Henry Folger, and dive deeper into
his obsession to possess one particular copy
Great Performances - Making Shakespeare: The First Folio also follows the
trail of the infamous stolen Durham folio as it made its way across the
Atlantic and was finally identified and recovered 20 years later
Featuring numerous museums and universities
Great Performances - Making Shakespeare: The First Folio spotlights the
work of the Public Theater in New York City, including their bilingual
musical version of "Comedy of Errors" that tours New York's diverse
neighborhoods. The film additionally spotlights 11-year-old students from
the Bronx who make their own sense of the tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet,"
and also goes behind the scenes of Kenny Leon's Shakespeare in the Park
production of "Hamlet," set in Atlanta, Georgia that uncovers a Shakespeare
who challenges racism and violence in America today
Notes: EP7 did come out before EP6, see schedule. Incase anyone wonders
HYMN - Formed to bring you music documentaries and concerts <3
