Celebrating the Bard of Avon

A series of cultural events to celebrate renowned poet William Shakespeare’s life on his 400th death anniversary would be held next year. The programme titled ‘Shakespeare Lives’ was announced by The British Council on Wednesday. The programme is an invitation to the world to join in the celebrations by participating in a unique online collaboration and experiencing the works of Shakespeare directly on stage, through film, exhibitions and in schools. The programme aims to reach over half a billion people around the world.

The British Council and the Great Britain campaign are working with a host of British theatres, museums, educators and artists on brand new productions of Shakespeare’s plays, film adaptations, public readings and educational resources for schools and English language learners of all ages in the UK and around the world. Shakespeare Lives will run throughout 2016, exploring Shakespeare as a living writer who still speaks for all people and nations.

Activities across English, education and the arts will explore the story of how a playwright from England came to be shared all over the globe. A major highlight will be ‘All the World’s a Stage’, a mass participation project that will invite people from all over the world to upload and share clips of themselves performing lines from Shakespeare’s plays.

It will culminate in a record breaking, crowd-sourced performance and a new digital version of Shakespeare works. A touring programme of the best British Shakespeare films available to screen internationally in partnership with the BFI, will be a part of the programme. This will include everything from early silent films to new productions.