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Stratford will also see new works inspired by Shakespeare’s plays,
including Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad by the Iraqi Theatre Company
(26 April–5 May) and the Brazilian Companhia Bufomecânica’s Two Roses
for Richard III (7–12 May).
Meanwhile in London, an unprecedented programme of multilingual
Shakespeare productions will be performed over six weeks at Shakespeare’s
Globe theatre. Globe to Globe includes all 37 Shakespearean dramas,
performed by 37 international companies, plus his poem Venus and
Adonis performed in IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, SeSotho, Setswana, Afrikaans and
South African English.
The countries taking part include South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation
whose specially formed theatre company will present Cymbeline. The National
Theatre of China will perform Shakespeare’s Richard III in their fi rst visit to
the UK. Afghanistan’s theatre company Roy-e-Sabs will leave Kabul for the
fi rst time with their production of The Comedy of Errors. And the three Henry
VI plays about England’s fi rst great civil war will feature national theatres from
Serbia, Albania and Macedonia.
Love’s Labour’s Lost will be performed in British Sign Language; Rawiri
Paratene’s New Zealand production of Troilus and Cressida will feature the
haka, waiata and other aspects of Maori culture, and there will be a showing
of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s hip-hop version of Othello.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre will also be taking Hamlet on tour and
performing at outdoor UK regional venues, and in Spain and Austria. Using
a stage infl uenced by paintings and etchings from Shakespeare’s time, when
touring was prevalent, eight actors will perform a small-scale production of
the play, with Michael Benz as Hamlet and Carlyss Peer as Ophelia.
Visit Britain
CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW
Roman weapons and armour
being made ready behind
the scenes in the Royal
Shakespeare Company’s
workshops; backstage in
the dressing rooms at the
Royal Shakespeare Company;
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre,
Southbank, London.
JULY | AUGUST 2012 39
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