Yesterday I went as the guest of a friend who had been invited to a special viewing of the newly renovated Swan theatre in Stratford UK. She had sponsored a couple of new seats in memory of her parents and the event was a mark of the theatre’s appreciation of her, and other donors, generous gifts.
The event itself was interesting and informative, and I may devote a later blog to the thinking that has gone into the new theatre layout and seating to ensure audiences with any health, mobility, or other particular needs will feel welcome and comfortable. But it is a sculpture we spotted on the way out that I intend to devote today’s blog to. It is called For All Time, and was created by Steven Fallen in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
The sculpture is made of two thousand metal stars that shimmer in the light. The overall intention is to explore Shakespeare’s obsession with time. The stars are suspended on different lengths of wire to create a mask-like face. This may seem a little obscure – what does any of this have to do with Shakespeare and time?
Shakespeare’s plays do, admittedly, span many hundreds of years and there are references to the passing of time – ‘tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow …’ He was also captivated by stars, as evidenced by his ‘star-crossed lovers,’ Romeo and Juliet, and the sculptor took his inspiration from Juliet’s imaginative fantasy of turning her lover’s face into a constellation:
Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Romeo and Juliet Act 3, scene 2.
Shakespeare’s contemporary, Ben Jonson, described is fellow poet and playwright as ‘Not for an age but for all time,’ and went on to describe him as ‘our Star of Poets.’ And today, as well as having his plays in productions all round the world, we have ‘for all time,’ in honour of a timeless playwright. You can go and see it for yourself if you happen to be in Stratford.
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