Press

“To mark the continued resonance of the famed playwright’s words 400 years after the publication of his “First Folio” on November 8, 1623, British filmmaker Jack Jewers has sent a portrait of Shakespeare along with a speech from one of his best-known works to the edge of space.”

“To mark the anniversary of the First Folio, filmmaker Jack Jewers made six short films addressing contemporary themes including space exploration, the impact of the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine using six of Shakespeare´s speeches and poems.”

“Doctor Who star Tom Baker narrated a short film which was sent out of this world, along with the Bard’s portrait. BAFTA-nominated director and author Jack Jewers series of six shorts, inVerse, sees Tom voicing the Lovers and Madmen speech from a Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“Jack Jewers' six Folio 400 short films, inVerse, premiere at St Martin in the Fields on Wednesday November 8, exactly four centuries after the book was published. They reimagine Shakespeare’s speeches, alongside a love sonnet narrated by broadcaster Cerys Matthews.”

“Eager to show why Shakespeare remains relevant 400 years on, the BAFTA nominated director has set the texts to images of recent political protests, the European refugee crisis, and powerful images of Ukrainians standing in front of bombed out buildings.”

“Jewers says: ‘I had this image in my head: a portrait of Shakespeare, the universal playwright, whose work I truly believe speaks to everyone, backgrounded by space, with earth’s curvature in the background. What more fitting way to celebrate the universality of our human experience, and how it has been captured for 400 years by these wonderful words, than that?’”

“Subjects touched upon include the impact of Covid 19, the war in Ukraine, space exploration and social justice protests. In one of the films, Jewers remotely directs Ukrainian civilians in Kyiv. Another features ‘Our Revels Now Are Ended’ from ‘The Tempest’ and explores themes of loneliness and isolation caused by the pandemic, as well as the joy of reunions with loved ones.

“Themes explored in the film shorts range the war in Ukraine, to social justice protests and the impact of COVID. With uncanny parallels between our lives now, and life in 1623, these poignant film shorts demonstrate that Shakespeare's words have never been more relevant as we find ourselves moving from pandemic to global conflict.”

“I had this image in my head: a portrait of Shakespeare – the universal playwright, whose work I truly believe speaks to everyone – backgrounded by space, with earth’s curvature in the background. What more fitting way to celebrate the universality of our human experience, and how it has been captured for 400 years by these wonderful words, than that?” said Jewers in the release.”

“As part of the celebrations for Folio 400, the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s first folio in 2023, BAFTA nominated film maker Jack Jewers has taken six of Shakespeare’s most popular speeches and poems and reimagined them for the 21st century. Each film uses Shakespeare’s 400 year old words as a lens through which to navigate the world in which we live today.”

“In "Lovers and Madmen", narrated by actor Tom Baker, he attached the portrait and text to a weather balloon, sending them to the Earth’s upper atmosphere. ‘A tiny copy of the speech we used, which is 'The Lovers and Madmen' speech from 'Midsummer Night's Dream', was inserted into the portrait,’ Jewers told Reuters. ‘I like the idea of Shakespeare's words floating in space along with his image.’"

“‘The Stranger's Case’ features a speech Shakespeare contributed to an unperformed play alongside footage of refugees at sea. ‘What really struck me when I was kind of doing a deep dive into the bits of his work that I wanted to focus on was how the issues he wrote about still felt so contemporary,’ Jewers said. 'It feels so modern that whenever anybody hears this, they go ‘well, this could be today’."

“Shakespeare's First Folio was compiled by his friends and published on Nov. 8, 1623, seven years after his death. Some 750 copies are believed to have been printed, containing 36 of the 37 plays Shakespeare wrote, arranged for the first time as comedies, tragedies and histories.”

“A portrait of English playwright William Shakespeare and a speech from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" have been sent into space in a weather balloon to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of his first collected works. Footage of the initiative is included in one of six short films celebrating the four-century milestone by film maker Jack Jewers.”

“The first printed edition of Shakespeare's collected plays, known as the First Folio, was published in 1623, seven years after the Bard's death. In one of the films, Jewers remotely directs Ukrainian civilians in Kyiv to create a new interpretation of Shakespeare's ‘Band of Brothers’ speech from his history play ‘Henry V’.”

“The film also reflects Jewers’ journey as an artist trying to fulfill his vision. ‘Once we had the technology sorted to actually send the portrait into space, the rest of the film’s story became a bit of a reflection of that whole process: the artist, fueled by passion and determination,’ he says.”

“Against the backdrop of lockdown and the pandemic, today’s gender and identity wars, the climate crisis, Europe’s refugee crisis, and the fight against racism, discrimination and inclusion, the films are perfect examples of the timelessness and universal significance of poetry, and the deep-rooted connections between past and present.”

“InVerse is a collection of five of the world’s oldest surviving poems, reimagined for the 21st century by Jack Jewers. The five short films have been released especially for World Poetry Day, Sunday 21st March 2021. Jack has the passion and skill to bring poetry out of the classroom and into our lived lives.”

“​Each film takes an ancient poem as a prism through which to explore the world today. In celebration of humanity’s long relationship with poetry on World Poetry Day, these five films are a reminder that in these troubled modern times, poetry still has the ability to sooth and inspire..“

“Ranging from Ovid (the Roman poet who wrote Metamorphoses) to Kālidāsa (ancient India’s greatest playwright) and dating from 15,000 BC to 1,000 AD, each poem chosen for the collection feels like it could have been written yesterday, offering new meaning and a fresh perspective on some of the key global issues we face today.”