"Shakespeare: Interpretations & Imagination" presents 35 new drawings by the 9-year-old Matilda.

 

All drawings are executed in black fineliner on A3 paper.

The exhibition also includes a series of small three-dimensional compositions made from seashells, twigs and other objects collected on the seashore — the imaginary spirits of Prospero's island from "The Tempest".

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The drawings selected for the exhibition are not illustrations to Shakespeare's plays but rather a free dialogue with them. Inspired by "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "King Lear", "The Tempest", "Romeo and Juliet", "Macbeth", "Hamlet", Matilda recreates the characters as she sees and understands them. She transforms familiar plots into stories of her own, playing with the characters and inventing new episodes for them.

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For example, at the Capulets' ball, Romeo is disguised as William Shakespeare, while Juliet, who is expected to dance with the detested Count Paris, wears a crocodile mask. Or, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the amateur actors present a play at Duke Theseus's court, but they are constantly interrupted by a swarm of cheeky flies. Oberon's fairies and Titania's elves chase them through the air with nets.

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Shakespeare's classic plots remain recognizable, yet they are continually reshaped by the free play of a child's imagination.