WILLIAM Shakespeare’s birthday and the 400th anniversary of his death, both on April 23, are about to be specially marked not only with this weekend’s one-off celebratory Shakespeare Live! show at Stratford in front of an invited audience but also by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s unveiling of the newly-restored Grade II listed Swan Wing.

Built in 1879, and the oldest part of the RSC’s theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Swan Wing has been the subject of a nine month restoration made possible by a £2.8 million award from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A highlight of the restored Swan Wing is For All Time, a major new artwork commission by Brighton-based artist and designer Steven Follen, which is made of 2,000 stainless steel stars suspended from the ceiling by fine wires to make the shape of a 3-metre tall human face.

The three-dimensional artwork will have an ethereal quality to it, reflecting light and moving gently in the air. The face will be surrounded by further metal stars, which will loosely reflect the position of the constellations on Shakespeare’s birthday. 

This significant new artwork complements the Swan Wing’s sensitively restored public spaces.

A new café bar will be filled with objects and stories from the RSC’s extensive archive, and visitors can admire the original stained glass windows lining the Swan Wing staircase that illustrate the Seven Ages of Man speech from Shakespeare's As You Like It.

The Swan Wing’s brickwork, lead windows, and roof 'lights' have been restored, alongside three exterior bas reliefs by Paul Kummer, which depict Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.

Geraldine Collinge, RSC Director of Events and Exhibitions said: “Over the last year we have seen the Victorian architecture of the Swan Wing hidden away whilst a team of specialists weaved their magic to restore its beautiful façade and interior. 

“It was not until the scaffolding finally started to come down early this year that you could fully appreciate the detailed and sensitive work that had gone on, behind the hoardings, to bring this beautiful building back to life.  We are very excited to welcome people back into the space and to enjoy the building close up”.

Now that the restoration work is coming to an end, the RSC will begin the construction of its new exhibition, The Play’s The Thing, which will reveal the secrets and stories of how they have staged their productions over the decades.

It will open in the autumn.

The RSC says it is grateful for the the generous support from many supporters including the Tubney Charitable Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, DCMS Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund and The Wolfson Foundation.