WHAT IS SHAKESPEARE LIVES?
Shakespeare Lives is a global programme of events and activities celebrating Shakespeare’s life on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his death in 2016.
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.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?
A major highlight will be a mass participation project inviting people worldwide to respond creatively to scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, culminating in a crowd-sourced digital reimagining of Shakespeare’s works.
Plenty of other opportunities to get involved in Shakespeare Lives events and workshops can be found by visiting the Shakespeare Lives website.
To get involved in the conversation follow #ShakespeareLives on Twitter.
VIEW THE BBC SHAKESPEARE LIVES ONLINE FESTIVALL
Wherever you are in the world, you can enjoy the BBC Shakespeare Lives online festival until the end of September 2016.
You can watch the highlights below, and much more, on the festival website, which is co-curated by the BBC and the British Council.
RICHARD II
Royal Shakespeare Company
David Tennant stars as the doomed Richard II in Greg Doran’s critically-acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company production, available for the first time online across the world.
TALKING ABOUT SHAKESPEARE
Hay Festival
Through a mixture of new short films and the festival’s extensive archive top authors, actors, academics and thinkers including Stephen Fry, Germaine Greer and Dame Judi Dench explore Shakespeare, his works and his legacy.
SHAKESPEARE ON STAGE, SCREEN AND ELSEWHERE, WITH IAN MCKELLEN
British Film Institute
Sir Ian McKellen shares his unique insights into the problems and joys of interpreting Shakespeare for the theatre, television, radio and cinema.
BEING HAMLET
BBC
Two of the greatest contemporary Hamlets, Simon Russell Beale and Adrian Lester discuss this most celebrated and challenging of roles. Their discussion of the Prince of Denmark fittingly takes place on Danish soil in the elegant surroundings of the ambassador’s residence in London. From Gielgud to Branagh, Olivier to Plummer, they explore the rich variety of approaches to a role to which so many actors aspire.
THE WORKS
Set on a Peckham council estate, this short film, written and directed by Elliot Barnes Worrell celebrates Shakespeare’s timeless themes with a cast headed by Ralph Fiennes. Using only the words of Shakespeare, The Works explores the vast complexities that exist within a community of young Londoners who refuse to be defined by their circumstances.