Secrets and stories from the world’s most famous theatre company

Welcome to The Play’s The Thing. In this exhibition, you can enter the ever-changing world of the Royal Shakespeare Company. From Titania to Tinkerbell, Rome to Wonderland, our Collection contains a huge number of objects that reveal the 100-year history of the company and our work here in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Our work is rich with craft, creativity and imagination. We bring audiences joy through the plays on our stages and our work with communities and schools. The stories we tell help us understand ourselves, each other and the world we live in. 


The First Folio in front of stained glass

The First Folio

The Play's The Thing features the RSC’s copy of the First Folio, printed in 1623.

Described as one of the great wonders of the literary world, the First Folio, entitled Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, is the preferred version of Shakespeare's text for many actors and directors.

Without this first printed edition of Shakespeare's collected plays, the world would have lost half of his dramatic work, as many of the plays had never been printed before. 


Curating with community groups

We’ve worked with three groups from our local community with experience of displacement from home. They have helped to co-curate the exhibition for 2025, reflecting themes of imagination and playfulness.

Their choices and words show the power of theatre to inspire ideas and illuminate emotions across cultures, languages, and borders. The community groups include Theatre Studio of Internationally Displaced People (IDP) Uzhik, Bradford College and Welcome Here Ukrainian Refugee Network. 

 


Theatre Studio of Internationally Displaced People (IDP) Uzhik

Theatre Studio of Internationally Displaced People (IDP) Uzhik:  Formed of people displaced during the war in Ukraine, the Theatre Studio of IDP’s Uzhik is made up of teachers, students, labourers, salesmen, doctors and others who sought refuge in the town of Uzhhorod during the conflict.

None are professional actors, but all have said to have found hope and meaning through theatre and the ‘spirit of Shakespeare’.  

Over a long career, John Gielgud played King Lear many times. He also directed this 1950 production, portraying the monarch as a foolish aristocrat planning a carefree retirement living with his children. However, the daughters refuse to accommodate the king
and his huge band of knights, and Lear ends up alone in a raging storm. As the elements batter him, a sense of turmoil and desolation ravage his mind.


Theatre Studio of Internationally Displace People (IDP) Uzhik

The Uzhik theatre group chose to display King Lear’s costumes worn before and after the storm, representing its physical and psychological impact.

The Theatre Studio of IDP’s Uzhik Member

“Performing King Lear on your stage reminded us of the timelessness and universality of Shakespeare’s legacy – a cultural inheritance that continues to unite us across borders, languages, and experiences."


Students from Bradford College

The group of ten young people of different nationalities have recently arrived in the UK and are learning English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Bradford College. The college is a lead Associate School, part of the RSC’s Associate School programme, in partnership with Bradford Theatres.  

Shakespeare’s history plays chronicle England’s bloodiest decades of civil war. Michael Boyd directed them all in a multi-season RSC marathon from 2005-2008.

This heavy crown, worn by the naive and inexperienced King Henry VI, appealed to the Bradford College group. One student questioned how society expects leader to make all the decisions – wouldn’t it be better to seek many ideas from many people? 

Henry VI Part 1_ 2006_ Chuk Iwuji as Henry VI_2006_Photo by Ellie Kurttz _c_ RSC_8811
Chuk Iwuji as Henry in Henry VI Part 3, 2006
Bradford College student

‘I feel like a real queen wearing this. It reminds me of all I have to think about and the responsibility I have.’

Students from Bradford College

WELCOME HERE UKRAINIAN REFUGEE NETWORK

Welcome Here Ukrainian Refugee Network are a group of Ukrainian nationals who have re settled in Warwickshire after the start of the war. The group met via the Welcome Here refugee network. Welcome Here is a Stratford-upon-Avon organisation of community volunteers helping refugees rebuild their lives and reach their full potential in safety and dignity.   

In Charles Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol, three ghosts visit selfish Mr Scrooge, and help him change his ways. Danielle Henry wore this costume as the gutsy, lively second ghost. The Ukrainian refugee group felt an immediate connection between this dress and Ukraine’s beautiful, lush forests.

It brought to mind a beloved play by Lesya Ukrainka that all Ukrainian schoolchildren study. In that story, an elf woman – the spirit of the forest – weaves spells in a dress of leaves and ferns.

Welcome Here Ukrainian Refugee Network
Welcome Here Ukrainian Refugee Network member

‘This magical dress gives me hope’

A Christmas Carol production photos_ 2018_2018_Photo by Manuel Harlan _c_ RSC_268452
Danielle Henry as The Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol, 2018

Other items on display in The Play's The Thing chosen by these community groups include:

  • Costume worn by Derek Jacobi  as Prosper in The Tempest, 1982 

  • Costume worn by Gary Sefton as The Beast in Beauty and the Beast, 2004

  • Costume worn by Patrick Stewart as Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, 2006

  • Costume worn by Antony Sher as King Lear in King Lear, 2016