Sir Patrick Stewart makes it so for museum

18 March 2011

As visitors walk around the new Shakespeare First Folio display, which opens on 25 March at Craven Museum & Gallery, they will be welcomed by the voice of renowned Shakespeare thespian and Hollywood actor, Sir Patrick Stewart. His voiceover will talk visitors through the history of First Folios and Shakespeare’s plays.

About the voiceover, Sir Patrick said: “I’m a Yorkshireman. But I’m a Yorkshireman who has, for the past 55 years, devoted much of his life to acting Shakespeare. It was my first theatrical love and has remained so throughout my life. And so to find that our county now has, and has had for several decades, in its possession a First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, albeit not complete, is very exciting to me. To have this significant, perhaps the most significant book in the English language along with the King James Bible, on display in Skipton is a marvellous thing and we must all be very grateful to those people who have made it possible. Enjoy looking at this book and don’t miss an opportunity to see one of the great treasures of English literature.”

The exhibition also explains why Shakespeare First Folios are important and how one came to be in the museum’s collection.

Find out more about the Shakespeare First Folio.