The Shakespeare Week celebrations for 2021 were themed around Wellbeing. As part of that theme, we created an online exhibition to explore heath, medicine and wellbeing in Shakespeare’s times.
From the gross to the gory, the exhibition delved into how medical practices have changed over the last 400 years, and what aspects of health have surprisingly stayed the same.
Drawing on the extensive and precious collections held by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, we curated an exhibition of objects, books and archival documents that illustrated different aspects of Elizabethan and Jacobean health and wellbeing.
We were delighted to work with Horrible Histories illustrator, Martin Brown. Martin guest-curated the exhibition, bringing history to life with the addition of his distinctive artwork and fascinating responses to some of his favourite exhibition entries.
Each entry in the exhibition also has an accompanying resource or activity to encourage further engagement. You can learn more with our ‘meet the expert’ videos, download our ‘try this’ activity to see if you have what it takes to battle the plague with a pomander or test how much you’ve learnt with our interactive quiz.
In the autumn of 2021, we were pleased to find out that our exhibition had been shortlisted for best free resource by the Teach Primary awards. We were thrilled to be a runner-up in this category and listed among so many other fabulous free resources.
Boils, Plague Sores and Embossed Carbunkles is still available to explore for free. Follow the link to find out more.