Online Exhibitions

• • Write till your ink be dry

    To celebrate Shakespeare Week and the four hundredth anniversary of The First Folio we invited children everywhere to create their own Shakespeare inspired book and enter it into a special creative bookmaking competition. We've chosen some books from our collection as inspiration and you can see the children's wonderful winning entries here.

• • Shakespeare's family in nine objects

    Find out about nine members of Shakespeare's family in this interactive exhibition. PLUS find out about a children's diary writing competition.

• • Designing 1964: Tibor Reich and Shakespeare

    This online exhibition, curated by Dr Cathryn Enis, investigates the long partnership between the celebrated designer, Tibor Reich (1916-1996), and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

• • Time to Play

    Is it time to play? Games, sports, dance and leisure have changed a lot since Shakespeare’s time, although we might still recognise some of the Tudor and Stuart pastimes today. In celebration of Shakespeare Week please join guest curator, Marcia Williams, in exploring some of the ways to play in Tudor and Stuart times.

• • Still my beating mind...

    What do you do to make yourself feel calm and relaxed? How do you manage to still your ‘beating mind’? For Shakespeare Week 2022 we’re inviting children to think about their physical wellbeing and consider how being active is good for your mind as well as your body!

• • Boils, Plague Sores and Embossed Carbunkles

    How gross can you go? Join our guest curator, Martin Brown, Horrible Histories illustrator on a tour of medical mayhem.

• • Shakespeare's Lost Interiors

    Alex Hewitt uses her unique research to explore what the interior of Shakespeare's home, New Place, might have looked like.

• • To thine own self be true...

    It’s not always easy being ourselves and sometimes we’re afraid to be who we are in case others judge us. We asked the nation's children to tell us what it means to be true to themselves by responding creatively to Shakespeare's famous quote: 'This above all, to thine own self be true...'. You can see some of their honest, surprising and imaginative responses here...

• • John Hall, A Stratford Physician: His Practice and Patients

    Curated by Christopher Booth, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham

• • John Hall, A Stratford Physician: His Library and Remedies

    Curated by Christopher Booth, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham

• • VocalEyes - Hall's Croft

    An exhibition featuring audio descriptions of some of the Trust's Top 30 objects and Hall's Croft.

• • VocalEyes - New Place

    An exhibition featuring audio descriptions of some of the Trust's Top 30 objects and New Place.

• • VocalEyes - Shakespeare's Birthplace

    An exhibition featuring audio descriptions of some of the Trust's Top 30 objects and Shakespeare's Birthplace.

• • Sharing Shakespeare's Story

    ‘Sharing Shakespeare’s Story’ is part of the Museums and Schools programme and is funded by Arts Council England and the Department for Education.

• • Be Inspired: Shakespeare & Me

    A celebration of creativity inspired by William Shakespeare.

• • Ira Aldridge in the Collections

    For Black History Month 2017 we have brought together the material we have relating to 19th century actor, Ira Aldridge, from different parts of the collection.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Shakespeare’s New Place: Artefacts and Inhabitants

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Will Mitchell, Archaeologist at Staffordshire University.

• • Favourites

    Items from our collection that get us excited

• • Method in the Madness

    Method in the Madness: Understanding Ourselves Then & Now explores how the body, mind and disease were interpreted in the lifetime of John Hall (1575-1635), the physician who occupied Hall’s Croft’ in the early 1600s. John Hall lived there with his wife Susanna, the eldest daughter of William Shakespeare.

• • Saving Shakespeare's Birthplace

    In 1847 Shakespeare's Birthplace was put up for sale by public auction. Amid intense media interest, a campaign was launched to save the house for the nation.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Shakespeare Among Readers

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Dr Christina Lima, University of Leicester.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Marking Time in Shakespeare’s England

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Sophie Cope, University of Birmingham.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Shakespeare and Literary Pilgrimage

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Professor Nicola J Watson, Open University.

• • Shakespeare Connected - The Material Faith of Shakespeare

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Dr Cathryn Enis and Dr Tara Hamling from The Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies, University of Birmingham.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Not to Be: Death in the Collection

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Ben Haworth, Nottingham Trent University.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Ageless Cleopatra

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Islam Issa, Birmingham City University.

• • Shakespeare Week Portraits

    Welcome to the Shakespeare Week portrait exhibition! Be inspired by a selection of Shakespeare portraits from our collections, as well as specially commissioned portraits created by well known children's illustrators.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Costuming Shakespeare: Elizabethan Dress through the Centuries

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Ella Hawkins, University of Birmingham.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Imagining New Place

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Alexandra Hewitt, University of Birmingham.

• • Shakespeare Connected - ‘The natural gates and alleys of the body’ (Hamlet, 1.5.67): Physicality, Hygiene and Bodily Waste in Shakespeare’s World

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Peter J Smith, Nottingham Trent University.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Our German Shakespeare!

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Helen Hopkins, Birmingham City University.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Storms and Watercolours: Visualising Shakespeare's Nature

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Miranda Jones, University of Birmingham.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Shakespeare and Religious War

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Elisabetta Tarantino, Honorary Research Fellow, Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford.

• • Shakespeare Connected - Discovering the Guild Chapel

    A Shakespeare Connected exhibition co-curated by Kate Giles, University of York and the volunteers of the Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon.