A life-size art installation featuring over a dozen of Shakespeare’s famous creations handcrafted from paper and cardboard to mark the legendary writer’s 400 death anniversary, is causing much ado about ’something’.
The show at Birmingham City University (UK) which displays scale models over six feet tall, a three-meter-high balcony and even a walk-in tavern, has been made as a tribute to mark 400 years since the Bard’s death.
Each piece in the installation was individually crafted by 22 first year students from the University’s Design for Theatre, Performance and Events degree course.
They used techniques learned on the course to sculpt 780 meters of corrugated cardboard and nearly 5,000 metres of brown paper into the entire setting and characters.
Among the figures on show are a likeness of Shakespeare writing at his desk and full size replicas of some of theatre’s most famous names — including Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Caliban.
The exhibition took nearly three weeks to create, with students working day and night to make each setting, character and item from scratch, as well as selecting music and lighting to complement each element.
The installation housed in the Shell space at the University’s Parkside building in Birmingham city centre is open to the public until February 26.
Hollie Wright, Module Leader for the project, said: “The project is a simple yet extremely effective approach to experiential learning.”
The tavern in the installation is intended to replicate London’s historic Gorge Inn, where history’s most famous playwright is believed to have penned many of his works.
Traditional Elizabethan music plays throughout the exhibition hall alongside words taken from ‘Two Noble Kinsmen’ — Shakespeare’s final play — as a poignant tribute to his lasting legacy.
Marie Brennan, Creative Programmes Manager for The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: “The remit of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is to help the world’s understanding of the life and works of Shakespeare.”
