Play On! Shakespeare in Silent Film

This celebration of silent Shakespeare interweaves a delightful selection of thrilling, iconic and humorous scenes from 24 newly digitised films.

By the end of the silent era around 300 films of Shakespeare’s work had been produced. This celebration from the BFI National Archive draws together a delightful selection of thrilling, iconic and humorous scenes from 24 titles (many unseen for decades), newly digitised and brought to life with a score from the composers and musicians of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

See King Lear battle a raging storm at Stonehenge, The Merchant of Venice in stencil colour, the fairy magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and what was probably John Gielgud’s first appearance on film, in Romeo and Juliet.