First Folio Festival

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD SOMEONE SAY?

Beware the Ides of March.We band of brothers…Brevity is the soul of wit.

The first people to hear these phrases lived more than 400 years ago when Shakespeare’s plays were being performed in London. Those now familiar lines from Julius Caesar, Henry V, and Hamlet—along with nearly all of Shakespeare’s plays—are included in the 1623 First Folio, that’s coming to Middlebury College in February.

First Folio Festival

Mahaney Center for the Arts, Lobby, Museum of Art, and Dance Theater, Middlebury College, Vermont

Join us for Renaissance music, gallery talks, and a live theater performance celebrating the exhibition First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare. Starting at 4:30, The Penny Lane Consort will perform music of Shakespeare’s time on recorders, sackbut, and other instruments. At 4:45 PM and 6:15 PM, join Middlebury College professors James Berg and Timothy Billings for gallery tours in the Museum of Art. At 5:15 PM, the Middlebury Actors Workshop will perform Straight Up Shakespeare, an energetic, fast-paced romp through Shakespeare’s world. This free performance will feature Shakespeare’s most famous scenes and sonnets, linked together with original commentary that will demystify Shakespeare for all ages. Next, The Mountain Ayres, Middlebury College’s co-ed acappella group dedicated to the appreciation and performance of Renaissance music, will serenade visitors until it is time to say, “Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Also enjoy Renaissance refreshments, children’s activities, and Shakespeare selfies. FREE.