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Oct. 11, 2006

U-M maps add controversy and depth to Shakespeare’s plays

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Like so many Shakespeare plays, maps from the Bard’s late 16th century England also project historical or contemporary themes of wealth, prestige and power. And some even cause controversy.

In conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s residence at the University of Michigan, the Clements Library has mounted a selection of maps from its rich cartographic collections that reflect some of the geographical information available to educated Britons of Shakespeare’s time. These images also record a few of the contemporary events that helped create a part for England on the international stage.

“With so much maritime activity, conflict and exploration underway during William Shakespeare’s lifetime, it seems puzzling that, with one possible exception, the Americas do not figure in his plays,” said Brian Dunnigan, curator of maps at the Clements.

That one exception appears to be “The Tempest,” a play that some contend was based upon a 1609 notorious shipwreck off the Bermuda Islands, giving rise to theories that Shakespeare didn’t even write the play. The Clements exhibition of maps makes no judgment one way or the other, but does offer a map of the islands that appeared in atlases sometime between 1630 and 1635.

Under Elizabeth I, maps published in atlases were often known as “theatres,” a common use in the Renaissance. Among the exhibits at the Clements is John Speed’s 1613 atlas “The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine,” providing a view of London, the center of Shakespeare’s dramatic career. In the foreground of this map appear two theaters, one Shakespeare’s own Globe, and both easily identified as they stand out from the surrounding structures.

Just as the playwright’s London is provided, so is a 1579 atlas of England and Wales that shows the town of Stratford on the river Avon, north and west of Oxford, the place of Shakespeare’s birth and death.  But on this early map, the town is designated as “Stretford.”

From a 1486 map of the ancient world to those of the Roman Empire, the New World, New England and Jamestown, the Clements exhibition “Shakespeare’s Worlds in Maps” offers a treasure of woodblock and copper-engraved maps, some colored by hand with watercolors. The exhibition will continue through Dec. 22. Admission is free. The Clements is open weekdays 1-4:45 p.m. or by special arrangement. The Clements is at 909 South University St. in Ann Arbor on U-M’s Central Campus and can be contacted by calling 734-764-2347.

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Contact: Joanne Nesbit
Phone: (734)647-4418