‘Curst be he that moves my bones’: Shakespeare’s grave to get high-tech radar probe as famous curse ignored
‘Curst be he that moves my bones’: Shakespeare’s grave to get high-tech radar probe as famous curse ignored
By Hannah Furness, The Telegraph, March 6, 2016
Grace Kelly / Wikimedia
LONDON — When a grave is deliberately inscribed with a curse upon any who dares disturb the bones within, it is a brave man who seeks further knowledge of what is inside.
But the lure of William Shakespeare has proved too much.
The playwright’s grave is to be examined carefully for the first time, with a high-tech radar survey allowing experts to discover what lies beneath the soil of the Stratford cemetery.
Holy Trinity Church, in Stratford upon Avon, has granted permission for documentary-makers to investigate Shakespeare’s grave without physically disturbing the site. A preliminary radar survey has already taken place, with results due to be broadcast in a TV documentary later this spring.
The examination is part of nationwide commemorations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Radar scans are most commonly used in graveyards to detect unmarked or previously unknown graves, allowing experts to find coffins and learn details about them their size, shape and material they are made from. In this case, it is believed documentary-makers will be seeking to learn more about Shakespeare’s life and family.
It is not clear whether scans would show any items buried within the coffins, but it is likely to give a clearer picture of a possible family vault: his wife, Anne Hathaway, daughter Suzanna, son-in-law Dr. John Hall, and Thomas Nash, his grandson-in-law, are buried in the chancel alongside him.
The playwright was buried in 1616, with the warning on the gravestone: “Good frend for Jesus’ sake forbeare, To digg the dust encloased heare. Blest be the man that spares thes stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.”
The grave study will come after comprehensive research into New Place, Shakespeare’s Stratford home. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has already mapped out precise plans of what the home would have looked like, including the kitchen, oven foundations and remains of a cold store.
The site, demolished 250 years ago, but due to reopen in July, will give admirers of Shakespeare their most useful glimpse yet into his day-to-day life.
The Shakespeare’s grave project came after calls last year for the playwright’s body to be physically exhumed.
The results of the scan are expected to be announced before this summer’s World Shakespeare Congress, a worldwide gathering of 1,000 academics likened to the Olympics of Shakespeare studies.
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Who, among our membership, besides me, has been to Stratford-upon-Avon in England, where Shakespeare's great plays were first acted on stage.
I haven't been to Stratford upon Avon, but I have been to Ashland, Oregon.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival , widely recognized as one of the best theater festivals in the world, returned to Ashland for its annual eight-month run this past weekend, embarking on another season of modern and classical theater.
It's important to note, for those who have never been, that the festival shows much more than Shakespearean plays. Hot tickets this year will be to shows like the world premiere of "Roe," a world premiere drama about the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case; an outdoor performance of "The Wiz"; and a new adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations."
This year just so happens to be the 400 th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and coincidentally will mark the fourth time the 81-year-old festival has cycled through his entire canon, finding completion with his rarely-performed drama "Timon of Athens."
We'll have more coverage this week and as the festival goes on, but for now browse the schedule below and plan your trip to Oregon's world-class theater festival in Ashland.
There is a Stratford, Ontario that holds a Shakespeare festival every summer.
This sounds like some sort of publicity stunt. What will they learn by radar scanning Shakespeare's grave? What the coffin was made of? So what?
I think the article pointed out that even that could indicate some new information about Shakespeare.