Shakespeare Tube Map.....Tu Be or not Tu Be?

Just when you thought it was all quiet on the official Tube Map mashing front, along comes the Royal Shakespeare Company with their Bardic Tube Map.


Thanks to Heather who sent me a link to The Guardian's Blog who initially reported this. The RSC commissioned designer Kit Glover to produce a new range of RSC products. Kit had a dinner party discussion with his friend who believes that many of Shakespeare's characters are interlinked and show similar character traits. Kit thought about he could depict this graphically and the London Underground map seemed to be the best way of mapping their relationships. The Guardian have a larger version of the map on their site.

We've seen this a number of times before (Simon Patterson's Great Bear) and more recently The Guardian's Music Tube map and even a Web 2.0 map based on Tokyo's Subway Map.

The lines in Shakespeare's map include: strong and difficult women (turquoise), lovers (red), mothers (pink), fathers and daughters (green), villains (light blue), heroes (dark blue), warriors (black) and fools (orange). The RSC point out "Interesting intersections include Henry V who meets on the warrior and hero line, and Lady Macbeth on the strong and difficult women and warrior line".

My Shakespeare's currently at Sally Webster out of Coronation Street's level - but I like Ophelia being on the stop for the riverbus. I'm surprised to see that Lear's daughters Goneril & Regan, aren't nearer towards him on the map. The Guardian offer some missed opportunities with geographical mapping - "That notorious bear from The Winter's Tale must surely pursue passengers from Paddington and Macduff undoubtedly gets off at Caledonian Road, while the Falstaff of the final scene of The Merry Wives would more naturally alight at Royal Oak". However it's all easier said than done.

I'm not sure that Shakespeare had over 270 characters in his plays, then connecting them by relationship to each other and adding some puns with station names would have been beyond the Bard himself (well it probably wouldn't).

Forsooth, if thou desires to acquire for thyself a bag, mug, poster, set of postcards and my heart quickens.... a tea towel, with Shakespeare's map gracing them, do not tarry, venture with haste to the RSC's webeth site.