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What is the First Folio of Shakespeare?

by Laura Jackson Roberts

OI Blogger Explores the First Folio of Shakespeare & Learns Wheeling Connections to the Bard

If you’ve been listening to the rumblings coming from Oglebay Institute lately, you may know that something big is coming to Wheeling: the First Folio of William Shakespeare.

What exactly is the First Folio?

The First Folio is a book that was printed after Shakespeare’s death. According to the Folger Shakespeare Library, “Seven years after Shakespeare’s death, John Heminge and Henry Condell, his friends and colleagues in the King’s Men, collected almost all of his plays in a folio edition. The 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare … is the earliest folio consisting only of an author’s plays.”

Folios were expensive to print and therefore were usually limited to history, law, and religious subjects. But thanks to this book, 18 of Shakespeare’s plays that had never appeared in print and would have otherwise been lost were preserved, including As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and The Winter’s Tale. Additionally, the folio includes an accurate portrait of the bard. Though 750 copies were originally printed, only 233 survive today, and each one contains minor differences due to the nature of printing at the time. The First Folio tour will visit all 50 states, and Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum has been chosen to showcase it here in West Virginia.

I went up to the Mansion Museum to see what’s happening behind the scenes. Kelsy Traeger is the curator of museums at Oglebay Institute, and she gave me a preview of what’s to come. Though the folio hasn’t arrived yet, and the exhibit won’t open until May 9, the hardworking crew at Oglebay Institute is busy preparing for its arrival. Of course, when you make your way into the exhibit hall, you’ll see the First Folio (on display under a dim light to preserve the ink), but you’ll also have the opportunity to explore Wheeling connections to Shakespeare, and I was surprised to learn that there are several.

Interpretive Panels Accompany the First Folio of Shakespeare Exhibit
Kelsy Traeger, Museums Curator at Oglebay Institute and designer Neal Warren install interpretive panels that accompany the First Folio.

William Leighton, Jr., whose father was a renowned glass chemist and who settled in Wheeling to continue that work, had more than a passing interest in Shakespeare. He wrote several books on the bard and served as president of the Shakespeare Club of Wheeling. Some of his works are on display, as is a publication from an 1875 meeting of the club. You’ll also see a publication from a masque that was performed in 1916 in New York City for the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Kate Oglebay, niece of Earl W. Oglebay, was instrumental in planning that celebration a century ago. Additionally, you’ll find local attorney Jeremy Charles McCamic’s book, Classic Comic Ridicule in the Comedies of Shakespeare.

You really have to see old books to appreciate them. In addition to the First Folio, the library at West Liberty University has loaned for display a Christian devotional book from the Middle Ages known as a Book of Hours. It’s handwritten and was printed before 1501. The illustrations are stunning and brilliantly colored. While a folio is a book in which the paper has been folded in half once, this book of hours is called a quarto; the paper has been folded in half twice.

Cheryl Harshman, director of the Paul N. Elbin Library at West Liberty University, displays a rare 15th Century Book of Hours. Pieces like this from the collections of local libraries and universities will accompany the First Folio exhibit showcasing the beginnings of bookmaking and printmaking.
Cheryl Harshman, director of the Paul N. Elbin Library at West Liberty University, displays a rare 15th Century Book of Hours. Pieces like this from the collections of local libraries and universities will accompany the First Folio exhibit showcasing the beginnings of bookmaking and printmaking.

In addition to the displays, children will have a chance to act out Shakespearean scenes with props, and a poetry corner will give visitors opportunities to compose their own pieces.

While you wait for the arrival of the First Folio, you’ll want to check out Oglebay Institute’s May schedule, as there is something entertaining for everyone. There are a myriad of planned events, but here are a few where you’ll definitely find me:

May 7: Enjoy a madrigal dinner including period music, dancing, food, and drink.

May 14: First Folio Family Program: Have Fun with Hamlet. Children ages 6-8 and their families are introduced to Shakespeare through language and activities.

May 21: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed by Wheeling Jesuit University, Duquesne University’s Red Masquers, and Wheeling Central High School.

May 21: ShakesBEER in the Park. Guests will be greeted by a falconer and have an opportunity to sample a variety of beers, along with hand-held meat and cheese pies, turkey legs, cheese and bread. Enjoy sword fights, brawls, games, and short scenes from Shakespeare’s plays performed by The Rustic Mechanicals, West Virginia’s only touring Shakespeare theater troupe.

May 29: The Rustic Mechanicals perform The Tempest.

For a more complete list of Oglebay Institute’s Shakespearean events surrounding the First Folio exhibit, please visit oionline.com/firstfolio.  The First Folio will be on display May 9—June 12 at the Mansion Museum.

TOWNGATE PRODUCTION CELEBRATES THE ART & HEART OF THEATER

WHEELING, W.Va. (April 25, 2016)- -Towngate Theatre’s most recent production captures the love and backstage lore of life on stage. Ronald Harwood’s “The Dresser” celebrates the art and heart of the theater and illuminates the power that theater has to lift the human spirit in times of great strife.

Directed by Maribeth Thompson and featuring a very talented cast of community theater veterans, the show opens May 6 at Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre and continues for two weekends.

“The Dresser” tells the story of one fateful night in a small regional theatre during World War II. As Britain is under attack from German aircraft, a group of traveling, ragtag Shakespearean players tours the English countryside performing the Bard’s tragic masterpiece – “King Lear.” Sir Donald Wolfit, the last of a great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way. As he prepares to play his 227th performance as Lear, he suddenly realizes he cannot recall his first line. It is only his dedicated and loyal dresser, Norman, who would do anything to help the aging performer, that can bring the once-great actor to the stage for a final curtain call.

Vincent Marshall and Tim Thompson star in "The Dresser."
Vincent Marshall and Tim Thompson star in “The Dresser.”

“The Dresser” was first produced in 1981 and was nominated for a 1982 Tony Award. It was adapted into a 1983 film, based on a screenplay by Harwood and starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.  In 2015, Richard Eyre adapted and directed a BBC film version of the play that stars Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins.

Ronald Harwood based much of his play, and its subsequent screenplay, on his experiences as an actor and dresser for renowned Shakespearian actor Donald Wolfit and his Shakespeare Company. Harwood was Wolfit’s dresser between 1953 and 1958.

Towngate’s production features Vincent Marshall and Tim Thompson starring as Norman and Sir, respectively. Other cast members include:  Dee Gregg, Melody Meadows, Makayla Carney, Walt Warren, Wayne McCord, Jon J. Coffield and Isa Campbell.

The cast of Towngate Theatre's production of "The Dresser."
The cast of Towngate Theatre’s production of “The Dresser.”

“The Dresser” coincides with the exhibit First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, on tour from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.  Oglebay Institute was chosen as the only location in West Virginia for the First Folio tour through the United States. An original 1623 First Folio and accompanying exhibit are on display May 9- June 12 at Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum.

Housed in the former Zion Lutheran Church, Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre is an intimate and informal venue in the heart of Wheeling’s Centre Market District, offering year-round entertainment ranging from community theater and children’s theater to comedy and improvisation to live music and cinema. Towngate is dedicated to serving diverse audiences through engaging programming and showcasing the work of local actors, directors, playwrights, poets, musicians and filmmakers.

“The Dresser” will be staged May 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14. Curtain is 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets can be purchased by calling 304-242-7700, at www.oionline.com or at the door.

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