'Shakespeare Off the Map' presentation by Stella Wisdom at the fourth annual BL Labs Symposium, 7 Nov 2016

1. Shakespeare Off the Map
Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator
@miss_wisdom
@BL_DigiSchol
Blog: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/

2. www.bl.uk 2

3. www.bl.uk 3
The Off the Map Competition?
• A new type of collaboration
• Explores how British Library digital collections can be used in creative ways
• Engagement with new audiences
• Opportunity for students in the UK to showcase their talents to industry

4. www.bl.uk 4

5. www.bl.uk 5
C.J. Visscher, London , 1616 (detail) Maps C.5.a.6

6. www.bl.uk 6
John Leake, An exact surveigh of the streets lanes and churches contained within the
ruines of the City of London, 1667. Maps Crace port 2.58

7. www.bl.uk 7
2013 winning team:
Pudding Lane Productions from De Montfort University,
Leicester
Created an interpretation of 17th Century London
http://youtu.be/SPY-hr-8-M0 (Flythrough starts at 0:50)

8. www.bl.uk 8
2014 winning team: Gothulus Rift, University of South Wales
Created a Fonthill Abbey inspired game called Nix using Oculus Rift
Blog: http://nixgamedevblog.blogspot.co.uk
YouTube flythrough: http://youtu.be/8ESieZO4VHw

9. www.bl.uk 9
2015 Winning Game:
“The Wondering Lands of Alice”
Team Off our Rockers, from De Montfort University in Leicester:
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/7bwx4uUnbV4

10. www.bl.uk 10
#Shakespeare400
2016 commemorations of
400 years since the death
of William Shakespeare

11. www.bl.uk 11

12. www.bl.uk 12
The 2016 Off the Map competition
Three sub-themes
Castles: Scene of Ghosts and
Murder
The Tempest
Forests, Woodlands and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

13. www.bl.uk 13
Castles: scene of ghosts and murder in Shakespeare
Hamlet is set in Elsinore
Shakespeare’s version of Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark.
View of Elsinore, taken from Civitates Orbis Terrarum, 1600. C.29.e.1.

14. www.bl.uk 14
The Tempest
The Tempest opens with a storm
battering the ship on which Alonso,
the King of Naples, and his party
are travelling. Washed ashore,
Alonso’s men find themselves on a
strange island inhabited by
Prospero the magician, his
daughter Miranda, a shape-shifting
spirit called Ariel, and the slave
Caliban.
Frontispiece to The Tempest in The
Works of Mr William Shakespear
(1709), edited by Nicholas Rowe.
C.123.fff.2. Volume 1, p1

15. www.bl.uk 15
The Tempest
Shakespeare was inspired to write The Tempest when he read of the fate of the
Sea-Adventure, a ship taking English colonists to North America which was
wrecked off the coast of Bermuda in 1609. The Bermudas were then the most
feared place on earth for sea travellers, who had heard stories about the islands
being inhabited by devils.
Map of Bermuda
as published in
Gerhard Mercator
and Jodocus
Hondius' world
atlas of 1633.
Maps K.Top 123

16. www.bl.uk 16
Forests, Woodlands and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Scenes from Shakespeare for the Young. Illustrated by H. Sidney … 1885. 1871.e.4
It is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream that the truly magical nature of woodlands
is fully revealed. In the play thwarted lovers flee into the woods around Athens
and unwittingly find their lives transformed by fairy enchantment.

17. www.bl.uk 17
Sound files:
https://soundcloud.com/the-british-library/sets/shakespeare-off-the-map

18. www.bl.uk 18
Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro
Team Members:
Tara Naz, Jasdev Singh, Jade Silver, Christopher Anka, Perrie Green, Joel Wilkins
De Montfort University, Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/0lzpEFgpk3Y
Blog: http://christopheranka.wixsite.com/offthemap

19. www.bl.uk 19
Off the Map 2016 1st Place: “The Tempest” by Team Quattro
De Montfort University, Leicester
Team Members:
Tara Naz, Jasdev Singh, Jade Silver, Christopher Anka, Perrie Green, Joel Wilkins

20. www.bl.uk 20
Off the Map 2016 1st place: “The Tempest” by Team Quattro
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/0lzpEFgpk3Y
Blog: http://christopheranka.wixsite.com/offthemap

21. www.bl.uk 21
Off the Map 2016 2nd Place:
‘Midsummer’ by Tom Battey
London College of Communication
Blog: http://tombattey.com/design/developing-interactive-dialogue-in-midsummer/

22. www.bl.uk 22
Off the Map 2016
2nd Place:
‘Midsummer’ by Tom Battey
London College of Communication
Blog: http://tombattey.com/design/developing-interactive-dialogue-in-midsummer/

23. www.bl.uk 23
Off the Map 2016
3rd Place:
‘This Most Desolate Isle’
by Alan Stewart
Brunel University

24. www.bl.uk 24
For 2017: There Will Be Fun Off The Map

25. www.bl.uk 25
Three themes:
1. Illusions, magic and
impersonators
2. Outdoor places of entertainment –
Fairground, travelling shows
3. Indoor places of entertainment –
Music Hall and Pantomime

26. www.bl.uk 26
Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator
@miss_wisdom
Digital Scholarship Blog
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship
Web: http://www.bl.uk/subjects/digital-scholarship