Inspiring Sites
The Folger Shakespeare Library
Without equal, the most thorough and comprehensive website on this subject. You can ‘meet’ all 82 First Folios in the Folger library and access their ‘Shakespeare Unlimited’ podcasts, ‘Shakespeare & Beyond’ blog, ‘The Collation’ blog and the Folger YouTube channel. Vast in content, rich in quality, this site explores every corner of the First Folio story and much more.
The British Library
A clear, comprehensive user-friendly site that provides a gateway to the Shakespeare-related collection at the British Library beyond their five First Folios.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Straightforward and well-written, this site looks at all things Shakespeare, including comprehensive act-by-act summaries of each play. It also shares details of the three First Folios in Stratford.
Meisei University
Although dated in appearance, and awkward in its working, this site offers comprehensive content and early electronic access to all four First Folios in its collection, plus Ben Jonson’s 1616 Folio.
The Bodleian First Folio
Full and free access to a clear digital copy of the Bodleian’s ‘re-purchased’ First Folio.
Shakespeare’s Words
A Crystal-clear and indispensable companion to student, scholar and Shakespeare fan. Each playscript is presented as it was in the First Folio, next to the modern text, with definitions of old or unusual words. All Shakespeare’s poems and Sonnets are there too. Well worth the minimal cost. Built and maintained by David and Ben Crystal.
Shakespeare Census
This site attempts to locate and describe all extant copies of all editions of Shakespeare’s works through 1700. It has a separate section for First Folios.
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare’s Globe is home to two theatres that approximate the outdoor and indoor playing spaces for which Shakespeare’s plays were written, within walking distance of their original locations. Their website introduces these spaces, including a 360° virtual tour of the iconic Globe Theatre, as well as aspects of early-modern London, audiences and playwriting.
Virtual Paul’s Cross Project
This site presents a virtual recreation of Paul’s Churchyard – the area to the north-east of St Paul’s Cathedral that had become the centre of the English book trade during the 16th century – at about the same time that the First Folio was published.
Shakespeare Documented
The largest and most authoritative collection of primary-source materials documenting Shakespeare’s life, bringing together manuscript and print references in a very easy-to-use website. Of particular relevance to the First Folio, it shows the plays’ entries in the Stationers’ Register and the early quarto editions.
Shakespearean London Theatres
The free downloadable walking map and illustrated guide on this website tell the story behind the vast theatrical scene that thrilled London in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and from which the groundbreaking folios of Jonson and Shakespeare emerged.
Shakespeare at Home
A site for all ages with ideas of how you can make Shakespeare a part of your life.
Links were correct in November 2023
Experience Shakespeare’s plays in a theatre 400 years ago
Half of Shakespeare’s plays may have been lost if they had not been printed in the First Folio, but the plays were written to be experienced live. Today, four modern theatres offer audiences the chance to experience performances in spaces that approximate some of the architectural features and playing conditions for which Shakespeare wrote his plays. Check opening times and availability before travelling.
Globe Theatre
Bankside, London, SE1 9DT.
Shakespeare’s Globe is a theatre and education centre based around a ‘best guess’ reconstruction of the first Globe (1599), the timber-framed and thatched arena for which Shakespeare wrote many of his famous plays. Opened in 1997, the Globe’s design was based on evidence gathered by archaeologists, academic researchers and theatre practitioners, and it is located close to the original riverside site.
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Bankside, London, SE1 9DT.
Named after the actor and director who was the driving force for the reconstruction of the Globe, this archetype of a candlelit and richly decorated theatre opened alongside the Globe in 2014 and is the kind of intimate indoor Jacobean-style performance space that Shakespeare and the King’s Men would recognise.
Shakespeare North Playhouse
Prospero Place, Prescot, Merseyside, L34 3AB.
In the 1590s, the Earl of Derby hosted performances by touring actors in a purpose-built indoor playhouse in Prescot. Opened in 2023, the heart of Shakespeare North is the Cockpit Theatre which is based on surviving plans for the ‘Cockpit-in-Court’ theatre of 1630 and earlier designs by architect Inigo Jones.
Blackfriars Playhouse
American Playhouse Center, Staunton, VA 24401, USA.
The original Blackfriars Playhouse was constructed in part of a 13th-century monastery and used by Shakespeare and the King’s Men from 1608. This reconstruction in Virginia opened in 2001, based on architectural drawings by Simon Basil (1605), Inigo Jones (1616) and John Webb (1629), alongside archeological and documentary evidence.
Visit sites that Shakespeare knew in Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, in 1564. Having retired from his London writing life, he died there in 1616. Some of the places he knew remain available to visit. Check opening times and availability before travelling.
Holy Trinity Church
1 Old Town, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6BG.
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford is where Shakespeare was baptised, worshipped and is buried. Both his monument and his tomb inside the Church are mentioned in the poem by Leonard Digges, ‘To the memorie of the deceased Author Master W. Shakespeare’ in the preliminary pages of the First Folio.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6QW.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is the independent charity that cares for the world’s greatest heritage sites in Stratford-upon-Avon and promotes the engagement of his works, life and times all over the world. It cares for Shakespeare’s birthplace on Henley Street; Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the family home of his wife-to-be; New Place, the site of his family home on Chapel Street; Mary Arden’s Farm, the childhood home of Shakespeare’s mother; and Hall’s Croft, the home of his daughter Susanna and her husband John Hall.
Photo by Ian Pudsey
Shakespeares's Schoolroom & Guildhall
Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6HB.
Shakespeare’s Schoolroom Trust is an independent charity that runs Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall, where visitors can immerse themselves in sixteenth-century Stratford and explore the room which Shakespeare probably spent his school years and first experienced theatre in the 1570s.
