First Folio Talk by Ben Crystal

As part of the First Folio exhibition currently on at Shakespeare North Playhouse, Associate Artist Ben Crystal has delivered an absolutely fascinating insight into how the First Folio was made, and what makes the First Folio such an important piece of both literature and history.

During the Lights On / Lights Off shows which Ben directed and performed in, he gave brief background details into each of the excerpts of the plays which we both really enjoyed. Ben is not only hugely knowledgable and passionate about Shakespeare, but he is also a very engaging public speaker. You cannot help but be swept up in his enthusiasm for The Bard. So with tickets available for just £3 per person as part of Shakespeare North’s Pay What You Decide scheme, attending this event felt like an absolute no brainer.

Starting at 5pm on a Wednesday evening could arguably not attract the biggest of crowds, but The Exhibition Centre within the playhouse was absolutely packed. We were fortunate enough to be able to sit on the front row despite not being in the queue early (we guess the school mentality of hide at the back of the room extends to these scenarios as well!), but there was not one spare seat. Many of the cast of The Book of Will were also present but had to stand at the back of the room as that was the only space available.

Ben’s talk began by explaining what a folio is, and how some of Shakespeare’s work had been published previously in quatro form. He then went through how the folio came to be made and detailed how differences occur between folios, before talking through the evolution of the editing process. A comparison of different publisher’s versions of the same text beautifully illustrated his point, and really showed how an apparently simple capitalisation of a letter can drastically change the meaning of the text.

The talk only lasted an hour, and in all honesty we could listen to a full lecture series about his thoughts on every play within the First Folio. The talk ended with an open question and answer session that briefly covered how iambic pentameter is maintained even with the evolution of grammar in the printed texts.

The biggest take away message from the evening though, was these works are plays. No amount of reading in a classroom can fully convey the texts, as if they were only meant to be read rather than acted, they wouldn’t be called plays. Though this was obviously an audience who had more than a fleeting interest in Shakespeare by the very fact of attending this talk, this message seemed to resonate the most with everyone.

We really hope that there are more opportunities to hear Ben Crystal speak about Shakespeare and the First Folio, or to hear other directors and academics as this was a really enjoyable evening and Shakespeare North Playhouse feels like the perfect location to hold more.

Cover photo via Shakespeare North Playhouse on Twitter.

Originally posted: November 2, 2023