November 8th 2023 was the 400th Anniversary of the registration of Shakespeare’s First Folio at the Stationer’s Hall in London (print-run 750 copies) and thus the birthday of one of history’s most important books, which rescued the Bard’s plays from oblivion. Thanks to the publication of the First Folio, the plays have been internationally performed and reinterpreted ever since, and are an enduring spur to the imagination for all the arts. Hot on the heels of leading the celebrations in the UK, Dominic Dromgoole, former Artistic Director of the Globe Theater in London (a reconstruction built close to the site of Shakespeare’s original Globe), joins the Festival to share his insights into the sometimes comical and often inspiring efforts which went into the creation of one of the great wonders of the literary world, the first printed edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. He talks to Bill Goldstein, former lecturer in Shakespeare studies, about what might have been lost without the publication of the First Folio and how it has fared in the world.

Recorded November 11, 2023