LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) – A festival bringing together 37
companies from around the world to perform Shakespeare’s 37
plays in different languages kicks off at London’s Globe theatre
on Monday with a Maori version of “Troilus and Cressida”.
The initiative, called Globe to Globe, is part of a wider
World Shakespeare Festival as well as the London 2012 Festival
that ties in with the summer Olympics.
South Sudan, South Africa, Belarus and Afghanistan are among
the countries represented, and for the first time a Shakespeare
play will be publicly performed in its entirety in British sign
language.
Definitely Theatre from London will translate the
pun-riddled comedic text of “Love’s Labour’s Lost” as part of
what the Royal Shakespeare Company is calling the biggest ever
festival dedicated to the Bard and his plays.
“We are hugely excited to throw open our doors to the
world,” said Tom Bird, director of the Globe to Globe festival
held at the Globe, the replica of Shakespeare’s original
theatre.
“This festival offers the chance to see well-known plays in
a new way, with the cultural influences and theatre conventions
of countries you may never have visited.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience
Shakespeare’s work in a way that you’re unlikely ever to have
seen it before, and a chance for the communities of London to
hear his stories in their mother tongue.”
Underlining how Shakespeare’s dramas resonate today, the
Globe will see the three Henry VI plays about England’s first
great civil war turned into an epic and sweeping Balkan trilogy
featuring national theatres from Serbia, Albania and Macedonia.
The series has not been without controversy, however.
A group of leading British actors, directors and film makers
signed a letter last month objecting to the inclusion of
Israel’s National Theatre, Habima, which is due to perform “The
Merchant of Venice” in Hebrew in late May.
The letter, published in the Guardian newspaper, attacked
what it called Habima’s “shameful” record of involvement with
Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories and urged the
Globe to withdraw its invitation.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
