The First Folio is one of the great wonders of the literary world. Published in 1623, seven years after the death of its author, it was the first printed edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. Without this achievement, we would have lost half of his dramatic work. So a new website has been dedicated in gratitude to the 400th birthday of this foundational book on the 8th November 2023, complete with essays, articles and a set of speeches from the plays read by an illustrious cast. Follow the jump to find out who.
The Tempest – Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Roger Allam, Joseph Marcell, Noma Dumezweni
The Two Gentlemen of Verona – Peter Hamilton Dyer, Pearce Quigley
The Merry Wives of Windsor – Michelle Terry, Pearce Quigley
Measure for Measure – Anjana Vasan, Roger Allam, Jack Farthing
The Comedy of Errors – Gemma Arterton, Jack Farthing
Much Ado About Nothing – Jack Farthing, Michelle Terry, Pearce Quigley
Love’s Labour’s Lost – Pearce Quigley, Jack Farthing, Anjana Vasan
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Gemma Arterton, Joseph Marcell, Pearce Quigley, Roger Allam, Anjana Vasan
The Merchant of Venice – Simon Russell Beale, Michelle Terry, Jack Farthing
As You Like It – Simon Russell Beale, Joseph Marcell, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Pearce Quigley
The Taming of the Shrew – Michelle Terry
All’s Well That Ends Well – Anjana Vasan, Simon Russell Beale
Twelfth Night – Joseph Marcell, Noma Dumezweni, Peter Hamilton Dyer
The Winter’s Tale – Roger Allam, Michelle Terry
King John – Noma Dumezweni
Richard II – Joseph Marcell, Jamie Parker, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Jack Farthing
Henry IV, Part 1 – Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Roger Allam
Henry IV, Part 2 – Noma Dumezweni, Joseph Marcell, Roger Allam
Henry V – Noma Dumezweni, Jamie Parker
Henry VI, Part 1
Henry VI, Part 2 – Gemma Arterton, Michelle Terry
Henry VI, Part 3
Richard III – Jamie Parker
Henry VIII – Noma Dumezweni
Troilus and Cressida – Simon Russell Beale, Anjana Vasan, Pearce Quigley
Coriolanus – Michelle Terry, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Titus Andronicus – Gemma Arterton, Joseph Marcell, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Romeo and Juliet – Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Anjana Vasan, Dafne Keen
Timon of Athens – Jamie Parker
Julius Caesar – Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Simon Russell Beale, Jack Farthing, Gemma Arterton
Macbeth – Gemma Arterton, Jamie Parker
Hamlet – Jack Farthing, Anjana Vasan, Jamie Parker, Gemma Arterton, Noma Dumezweni
King Lear – Roger Allam, Joseph Marcell
Othello – Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Simon Russell Beale, Pearce Quigley, Joseph Marcell
Antony and Cleopatra – Pearce Quigley, Noma Dumezweni
Cymbeline – Peter Hamilton Dyer
Front Pages – Simon Russell Beale, Michelle Terry
