Putting Shakespeare on the map
21 September 2007
Acclaimed designer Kit Grover, who has been working with the Royal Shakespeare Company on designs for a new range of RSC products, has collaborated with Dr Hester Lees-Jeffries from St Catherine's College, Cambridge on a project to produce 'Greater Shakespeare', a design inspired by the London Underground Tube map.
Instead of mapping out London destinations, it maps out the relationships of Shakespeare's characters across all his plays.
The idea came to Kit when he was having dinner with Hester. He asked her if there was any substance to the idea that Shakespeare’s characters developed and migrated across plays as he developed his work. For example - a character in one play was reincarnated as another character in a different play, retaining their core traits but maybe older or finding themselves in a tragedy rather than a comedy. She thought this was worth pursuing and made up a 'mad and fabulous' chart to show how she thought the characters interlinked.
Kit tried every kind of chart and family tree to capture the energy of Hester's original. When his thoughts turned to the iconic design of a tube map with its lines, junctions and intersections, the ideas fell into place. With more collaboration from Hester and the RSC Enterprise Department, Kit found what he thought was just the right balance.
The lines include: lovers (red), mothers (pink), fathers and daughters (green), villains (light blue), heroes (dark blue), strong and difficult women (turquoise), warriors (black) and fools (orange). Interesting intersections include Henry V who meets on the warrior and hero line, and Lady Macbeth on the strong and difficult women and warrior line.
The design has been used on various items which are being sold in the RSC Shop in The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and online. They include mugs, tea-towels, t-shirts and a cotton bag.
Further information
For more information please contact Nada Zakula in the RSC Press Office on 01789 412622 or nada.zakula@rsc.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
- The first diagrammatic map of the London Underground was designed by railway employee, Harry Beck in 1933
- Greater Shakespeare products are available from www.rsc.org.uk/shopping
- The tea towel is £5.99, the bag is £6.99, a t-shirt is £19.99, a mug is £9.99 and a postcard book is £4.99
