Soane and Shakespeare

A midsummers night after-hours tour of the Museum that explored the influence the great playwright had on the life and home of Sir John Soane and the wider background of the Shakespearian revival during the eighteenth-century, and contemporary theatre-going and performance. 

The 18th and early 19th centuries saw a great revival of interest in Shakespeare, with celebrated actors like David Garrick, John Philip Kemble and his sister Sarah Siddons performing regularly in his plays. 

Sir John Soane and his wife Eliza Soane enjoyed regular visits to the theatre and Soane continued to go to the theatre even after his wife’s death in 1815. Soane’s admiration for Shakespeare as the greatest literary genius in England’s history is reflected in his collection of busts, paintings of scenes from his plays, and even the coveted and very rare First Folio.

During this tour our expert guides regaled visitors with stories about Sir John Soane and the extraordinary influence of William Shakespeare; showed them paintings, busts and books relating to the Bard; and revealed Soane’s unique Shakespeare recess - a shrine dedicated to the playwright's memory that includes a cast of the bust from his tomb in Stratford-on-Avon, and paintings from King Lear and The Merry Wives of Windsor.