We are inspired by William Shakespeare even 400 years after he wrote his last words. His famous play Romeo and Juliet is still adapted and re-interpreted across the globe. From Macbeth to Midsummer Night’s Dream, his work has been quoted, enacted and made into films in various languages. And the very beginnings of these gems were on display at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai from January 20 to March 8.

The British Council, in collaboration with The British Library and CSMVS, has brought to Mumbai, and to India, for the first time, First Folio – the first collection of plays by William Shakespeare. First published in London in 1623 as a bulky book of 900 pages, the collection is significant because 18 of the plays featured in it would not have survived, and most of the other prominent plays would be known to us only in the imperfect form, if not for the First Folio. The Folio came out seven years after Shakespeare’s death and contains 36 of his 37 recognised plays.As many as 750 copies of the ‘First Folio’ were printed of which only 234 survive

Mumbai Mirror