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