To Be Or Not To Be

Was there ever a phrase so widespread in any other merchandise? What is interesting here are the ways in which the phrase is used. A number of retailers make dreadful puns. The website Shakespeare's Den offers babywear in the form of a bib and bodysuit with 'to pee or not to pee' and a 'To do or not to do' notepad. The RSC Gift shop sells the inevitable, groan-inducing '2B or not 2B' marked on a pencil, magnet, badge and pencil tin.

Puns are, at least, forgiveable. They are deeply embedded in the soul of the most ardent Bardolator. There are, however, some quite baffling representations  CafePress sells a wall art poster that breaks the speech down in the form of business objectives listing pros and cons with some aspects such as 'Which is nobler in the mind?' marked as 'tabled for later discussion'. They also sell a T-shirt that substitutes the words 'to be' with pictures of two bees, one depicting a cartoon of Shakespeare holding a pair of 3D glasses and the question '2D or not 2D' and another has a portrait of Shakespeare offering 'To be or not to be and shit like that'.

What are truly mind-boggling are the attempts at representing the speech in the form of various scientific abstractions such as: '2b|| !2b = ?'. There are also:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

None of which has to do with the Danish ditherer. This is the modern variant of Shakespeare's universality. This is reducing Shakespeare to an alphanumeric, diagrammatic, almost digital format which might not, initially seem to be harmful. After all, the very concept behind one of the great digital enterprises of the century, the internet, was its universality - 'This is for everyone'. What could be wrong with a little humorous digital play on Shakespeare's most recognised speech? But rendering Shakespeare as datastream in this way does not mean that Shakespeare's words in this case are opened up for exploration. One of the great ironies of digital technology is that one can use it without the slightest concept of how it all works. And in the same way that the internet is a tool to be used with no understanding of the underlying technology, codifying Shakespeare in this way removes the need for an understanding of what actually lies behind Shakespeare's words. This is how a phrase synonymous with meditations on life, translates such equivocation into the modern vernacular. Like most of the internet, reducing 'To be or not to be' to a mathematical formula, is not as artful or subversive a form as it first appears.


Merchandise available from RSC Gift Shop and http://www.rsc.org.uk/shop/ ; Photograph from current display at the giftshop.For Shakespeare's Den, see http://www.shakespearesden.com/shakespeare-collectibles.html; Cafe Press is at http://shop.cafepress.co.uk/to-be-or-not-to-be and illustrations are taken from their website.

Shakespeare Busts

The bust of Shakespeare is the very emblem of literary respectability. It evokes cavernous libraries enveloped in the dust of ages. It marks one as possessing the sensibilities of the earnest connoisseur. The classical grandeur of these eyeless forms imparts to us a Shakespeare of The Ages, timeless and ever so slightly intimidating.

Modern housing, however, is not conducive to the presence of such behemoths. Interestingly, any sizeable bust of Shakespeare is now sold in the distressed resinous form of the garden ornament. The largest bust available that suits modern homes is the 17 inch resin reproduction of an original sculpture by Pam Taylor available at the Globe. The Shakespeare Giftshop does sell a rather expensive handmade black Jasper Wedgewood bust; but also provides an elegant compromise in the form of a small, discreet white bust, carved from gypsum plaster to resemble marble that fits perfectly on the modern flat pack bookshelf and lends a little cognizance to the collection of books therein. There are also tiny busts available, very cheap and nasty in souvenir shops everywhere. It is instantly recognisable as Shakespeare; but also quite obvious that the manufacturing process involved grabbing the mould of Ghengis Khan and shaving the top of his head.

 

 

 

 

Busts are available from http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/shop/product/shakespeare-bust/70 and http://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/shop/ Photographs taken from current display at the Birthplace Gift Shop. Therre is an identical bust available from the National Portrait Gallery - see http://www.npg.org.uk/shop

Fridge Magnets

Ah! The humble fridge magnet. Cheap, either for oneself or as a gift, portable and collectable. A slight step up from the button badge as a souvenir and a gift and not so unspeakably déclassé as a thimble or a spoon. Unwanted magnets can be displayed for a few weeks then discreetly disposed of without any offence to the donor.

The Shakespeare Giftshop offers what one expects - a selection of magnets with tasteful photographs of the properties. A cut above this is the reproduction of the 'Landmark' watercolour depicting Shakespeare-associated properties in an attractively-tinted vista. As befits the more historical bias of the merchandise, they also offer a reproduction of the portrait page of the First Folio as well as the Cobbe portrait. Given that the influx of visitors to the shop are not necessarily true-blood Shakespeareans there are two designs inscribed 'to be or not to be' and an acknowledgement that 'the course of true love never did run smooth'. Far more interesting is the range of quotation magnets that stray from the normal run of Shakespeare soundbites and offer some of the Bard's less well-known meditations, but would appeal to a twenty-first century mindset - 'have we no wine here?' or 'there is money, spend it, spend it, spend more'.

The Globe Theatre uses the Coriolanus wine quotation as well as 'Let's kill all the lawyers from Henry VI part 2; like the Giftshop range the chosen quotations depict Shakespeare as a peddler of homespun truths. In the case of the Globe, though, some less run-of-the-mill choices see the Bard as a source of a rueful, shoulder shrug at life's variances - 'I was adored once, too', 'Nothing can come of nothing'. That the 'some are born great' quotation is truncated to just those four words also invites a self-deprecating eye roll in its implication that one will neither achieve said greatness nor have it thrust upon 'em. It also reflects what the Globe does so very well, which is not to insult the intelligence of its customer. The ubiquitous 'Parting is such sweet sorrow' is designed like a 'Love Heart' sweet, a clever spin, perhaps, on Romeo and Juliet being seen in popular culture as a paean to romantic love.

The more artistic selection of fridge magnets at the Globe depict illustrations by Charlotte Cory who reproduces Victorian Cabinet portraits, grafting animal bodies onto a costumed form. Hamlet is a tiger, Falstaff a hedgehog. These strike me as more a commentary on the artist than on the plays and reflect a tendency, sometimes seen in Shakespeare merchandise, to be seen as being on the cutting edge of contemporary artistry. The RST can be prone to this, somewhat over-zealous in its attempts to associate itself with modernity. To this end, one of the fridge magnets that shows the new theatre is not a photograph but a reproduction of Paul Catherall's linoprint of the new building. Which also fits in perfectly with the tendency of the theatre merchandise to reflect not just Shakespeare but the theatre itself. To this end, the best, and most striking of the magnets in their collection is the one that simply reproduces the red and white RSC logo. Even better, the one with the RSC logo and 'Royal Shakespeare Theatre' in Russian. It is, perhaps, an insight into how the boards and executives and directors and committees like to see the theatre - taste of transgression, a peek at anarchy; but nothing so risky as actual revolution.

 All products available in store and online at http://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/shop/category/3/14/Magnets/  ;http://www.rsc.org.uk/shop - browse by category RSC logos to find it; http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/shop ; photograph of Landmark watercolour from Shakespeare Birthplace Trust website; photograph of Russian RSC Magnet from RSC website, which does not, at time of writing appear in the shop

 

 

 

Flower Garlands

The artificial flower garlands currently available from the RST shop are something of an oddity in terms of Shakespeare merchandise. They are part of a range designed to reflect Englishness, rather than specifically Shakespeare and thus the association with a play is necessarily coloured by this. The fact that these items are rife in shops in places like Glastonbury suggests that they provide a handy metonym for English mysticism. So, if the garlands are meant to reflect A Midsummer Night's Dream, it makes the play synonymous with Englishness in the form of country dancing and rosy-cheeked maidens with a slight hint of misty vistas and mischievous faerie folk.

From a practical point of view they are not comfortable items nor very sturdy. The little flowers have a habit of falling off. If forced into wearing one by well-meaning friends or relatives you have two options. One is to adopt a rigid hauteur, making it clear that one is wearing it out of sufferance. I would, personally, advise option two: reveal your playful side. Intersperse your conversation with copious puns and quibbles that (pace Dr Johnson) are a necessary constituent of the modern Bardolater (If I beat you to your seat, am I pre-seeding you? Young people today - it's all about instant grassification -- you know the sort of thing).

 

 

 

 

Garlands available from RST shop and website at http://www.rsc.org.uk/shop; photograph is of currenbt RSC shop display

Button Badges

The humble button badge has a lot to offer the collector and aficionado. It is cheap, for one thing. The huge choice available means you can make a collection unique to oneself: collecting by portraits, by play, by quotations, even by red-writing-on-black. Neither is their sale limited to the specialist outlet. Online retailers such as CafePress offer many designs. Many of them treat Shakespeare as a kind of life coach: Shakespeare is declared to be one's 'homeboy', one is exorted to 'Read More Shakespeare', ask oneself 'What would Iago do?' or root for 'Team Shakespeare'. Here quotation is mantra - 'to thine own self be true', 'We know what we are but not what we may be' and 'There's small chioice in rotten apples'. Everywhere are the ubiquitous 'Insults' sold alongside 'Love' as a four pack where you can inform your 'Sweet Love' that they 'smell of mountain goat'.

Badges have traditionally been used in popular culture as a mark of allegiance, a way of advertising one's partisan politics. The RST has exploited this with its Julius Caesar badge. Most of their merchandising ties in with the season's programme and this is no exception, matching the production's contemporary politics with a political campaign-style, larger than usual size depicting the head of the dictator himself. Their range of badges tends to run to the more universal appeal. For the infants there is the 'Billy's Badges' set, with four cartoon icons of bard, skull, pig and the declaration that you 'heart' Billy. There are two that I take to be aimed at parents with younger children: a pink badge for the girls with 'Though she be but little, she is fierce' and blue for the boys with 'Prone to mischief'. For the teens there is the Twilight-homage of doomed love with 'Team Capulet' and 'Team Montague'.

The Globe Theatre also produces badge sets, also set around specific productions. The Hamlet set provides an interesting slant on the play as a meditation on death with two badges depicting skulls and the words 'To sleep, perchance to dream' and 'He is dead and gone'. The Midsummer Night's Dream set exploits the visual trickiness in the play with its quotations of 'what visions have I seen!' - angels waking one from a flowery bed,  being ill-met by moonlight and mortals being fools with their hearts true as steel. The 'Something Wicked' badge set uses Macbeth and distils the play into viscera and shadows - 'Never shake thy gory locks at me', eye of newt, toe of frog, fair is foul and stars should hide their fires.

It should never be forgotten that badges are an indispensible accessory for the vain blogger. A subtle advertisement of one's cultural credentials, without anything so vulgar as actually saying you like Shakespeare. And essential for that most glorious feat of one-up-manship - that you get the joke.




Badges mentioned are to be found in the relevant gift shops but can be ordered online at: http://www.cafepress.co.uk/+shakespeare+buttons, http://www.rsc.org.uk/shop/
http://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/shop/ and http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/shop
Photograph taken from RSC website.
 

Shakespeare Duck

One of my current favourites is the Shakespeare Duck available from the Shakespeare Gift Shop. It does not strictly have the Shakespeare connection. This is more part of a range of merchandise that equates 'Shakespeare' with 'Englishness' and so allies his image with other icons of national interest. In this case, a bath time toy, evocative of childhood, possibly a tin bath, possibly the nineteen fifties. This is a duck dressed in a dark blue doublet with wide collar. In one wing it carries a quill pen and in the other a sheet of paper with the legend 'to quack or not to quack'.

What I like about it is that it demonstrates scholarship's more playful side. We are not all that serious, poring over dusty tomes and quibbling over textual emendations. That we accept such quirky stuff shows the whimsical sprite that is the modern Shakespearean.



Duck available from Shakespeare Giftshop or online at http://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/shop/product/4652/Shakespeare-Duck/

Introduction

Shakespeare merchandise is at the forefront of any of the ubiquitous add-on and upselling that goes on at the business end of Heritage. Unlike many establishments that simply reproduce swathes of generic spoon-and-thimble fare with the odd teatowel thrown in, a great deal of Shakespeare related goods are well thought out, often quite witty takes on the man and his works. There are three main outlets for the Shakespeare brand that will form the central sources for the goods blogged here, each representing the best of what is available in terms of Shakespeare merchandise. That is not to say that I will disregard other places but these three establishments will provide the benchmark for future entries.

 

The Shakespeare Gift Shop in Stratford-upon-Avon, outlet for the Birthplace Trust leans towards the classics aimed at a global market, toward visitors who may not necessarily have a specific interest in Shakespeare. The merchandise reflects history, rather than drama, a broad sweep of items that reflect the physical remnants of Shakespeare - the properties, the Folios, the portraits, quill pens. All of which is supplemented with ephemera relating to the more esoteric qualities associated with the Bard, such as Englishness (tea, gardens, cats).

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, also in Stratford-upon-Avon, produces more collectable items in that its range is seasonal, depending on the repertoire. Items are produced as souvenirs of a production, rather than of Shakespeare himself. Merchandise here is also tied into a more national iconography, or reflect popular culture; thus, Shakespeare's characters are represented as a map of the London Underground, badges echo the Twilight movie franchise with the choice of 'Team Capulet' or 'Team Montague' reflecting the 'Team Jacob' or 'Team Edward' of the film's main characters. Merchandise here is also tiered, perhaps unwittingly, into age-appropriate categories and even gender-specific ranges. Thus, for A Midsummer Night's Dream, one can reasonably assume the merchandise is aimed at the older woman with its scarves, understated jewellery and pocket mirrors. A range of goods with the quotation 'Though she be but little, she is fierce' seems to be aimed at girls whilst the same range bearing the quotation 'Prone to mischief' is for boys, as intimated by the striking colour schemes:

Merchandise from the RST and the Globe Theatre in London shares many features of performance and theatre itself. They offer what might be called props - the Globe sells a skull, tying in with its 'Alas, poor Yorick' range. This is also an example of how the Globe can offer a witty take of Shakespeare merchandise. Alongside goods emblazoned with 'Once more unto the breach dear friends' that one might expect from a tie-in with Henry V, the Yorick range is an example of how merchandise can provide a concise expression of the director's vision; or even, a marker as to how the play is viewed in popular culture. In this case, with its meditations upon death, a memento mori.