In 2004, Melbourne Artist Ted May commenced a small series of paintings of William Shakespeare. Using Shakespeare’s easily identifiable receding hairline and high temple as the starting point of each work, Ted casually added beard, earring, or Elizabethan ruff and then, with very little historical information to go on, allowed his imagination and keen sense of humour to fill in the gaps. In all, twenty two ‘tongue in cheek’ portraits, painted in oil on canvas and varying in size from 51x41cm to a massive 198x213cm, were executed over a period of twelve months.

It was noted that the imaginative manner and humorous way in which he questioned what Shakespeare might have looked like, whom he may have been, and how he could have been portrayed by others, throughout history and in modern times, would make these works a valuable teaching aid. With this in mind, Ted began writing light hearted allegories and flippant rhymes to give the viewer a better insight into how each portrait was inspired by, or related to, Shakespeare. His partner, Anna Monument, supplied educational notes, to set the scene historically, and The Face of Shakespeare exhibition evolved.

This exhibition has now been staged at the 2005 Melbourne Shakespeare Festival, in Brisbane at the 2006 World Shakespeare Congress, to coincide with Richard III‘s 2007 season at the Civic Theatre, at the lock-up’s John Paynter Gallery, Newcastle, and at the Benalla Regional Art Gallery in June 2008. Further exhibitions in regional areas throughout Australia are in the pipeline.

The 2006 World Shakespeare Congress in Brisbane, a gathering of 600 international Shakespeare academics, was a tough testing ground for Ted’s tongue in cheek approach to Shakespeare. Yet the exhibition passed with flying colours, many delegates commenting on how much they enjoyed it’s refreshingly different approach to the subject. Roger Pringle, Director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, perhaps best summed up their appreciation: I was very impressed with Ted’s skilfully wrought and witty series of Shakespeare paintings. He managed to come up with images that were ‘truthful’ yet fresh and inventive: no mean feat! Though his captions may be jocular, it is clear that he has researched his subject and thought deeply about him. Hence the arresting quality of the portraits.

mages of the works have appeared in the ABC’s 7.30 Report on the World Congress and the importance of Shakespeare today, and on the front cover of the Australian Literary Journal. Reference has also been made in a Marriage of Minds and Souls, an article on the relevance of Shakespeare, published in the Age Education and Literature supplement, and, in a ‘coals to Newcastle’ scenario, its presence at the congress led to the purchase of ‘Young Shakespeare Contemplating’ by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford upon Avon, for inclusion in the Trust’s permanent Shakespeare Portrait Collection.

Created to stimulate the audience’s curiosity and imagination this exhibition should not be viewed as art in the strictest sense, but rather as an educational tool, offering novices a light hearted introduction to Shakespeare; students confronted with what is often considered the burdensome task of studying Shakespeare, a little comic relief; and for the diehards who thought they knew it all, some new ammunition to further fuel the Shakespearean Debate.