Shakespeare’s Globe announces programme for Globe to Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe announces full programme for Globe to Globe

27 September 2011

• For the first time, 37 international companies present all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in 37 different languages

• An athletic ticket pricing scheme including the chance to see all shows for just £100

• A kaleidoscopic six weeks of shows starting on Shakespeare’s birthday April 23rd

• An opening weekend of celebrations including: an adaptation of Venus and Adonis by the Isango Ensemble from South Africa, a public open day at the Globe to celebrate Shakespeare and the worlds’ languages, and Ngākau Toa’s Troilus and Cressida beginning the festival with a haka.

Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Dominic Dromgoole today announced full details of the programme for the eagerly anticipated Globe to Globe season.

In an extraordinary array of productions, full details of which are enclosed in this pack or on request, Globe to Globe highlights include:

From the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, a specially formed theatre company will present their take on Cymbeline. After 50 years of civil war, in the spring of this year South Sudan was finally recognised as an independent country. Out of the horrific troubles suffered by this country’s people, the first signs of hope for the future are springing and this production marks an historic step for the country’s future.

A new Balkan Trilogy – Henry VI. The three electrifying Henry VI plays about England’s first great civil war are presented as an epic and sweeping Balkan trilogy, featuring national theatres from Serbia, Albania and Macedonia.

For the first time ever a Shakespeare play will be performed in its entirety in British Sign Language. Deafinitely Theatre from London will translate the pun-riddled comedic text of Love’s Labour’s Lost into British Sign Language.

From Lithuania comes one of the greatest productions of Hamlet in modern times. Legendary director Eimuntas Nekrošius brings his seminal version to London for the first time.

The Merchant of Venice will be presented by Israeli National Theatre company Habima in Hebrew in their first ever visit to the United Kingdom.

Featuring the haka, waiata and many other aspects of Maori culture, a production of Troilus and Cressida from New Zealand has been put together by Rawiri Paratene, star of Whale Rider.

In another first, the National Theatre of China will perform Shakespeare’s horror show of power and paranoia, Richard III. The company has not visited the UK before and its trailblazing productions represent the new face of Chinese theatre.

The Isango Ensemble from South Africa are well known to UK audiences following their acclaimed productions The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso and The Magic Flute, will perform a stage adaptation of Venus and Adonis as part of an opening weekend of celebrations.

The world’s bravest theatre company Belarus Free Theatre will present King Lear. The company has attracted worldwide support for its work which it does in spite of the threat of state persecution.

From Ramallah in Palestine comes the Ashtar Theatre. Renowned for its direct storytelling style this remarkable theatre company will present its interpretation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece of dislocation, Richard II.

And from Afghanistan comes an extraordinary theatre company whose work is a living triumph against adversity. Roy-e-Sabs will leave Kabul for the first time, to bring a production of The Comedy of Errors to Shakespeare’s Globe. This company’s determination to perform and rehearse is a genuinely audacious stand against the strictures of life in Afghanistan.

Tickets start at just £5, and a series of multibuy schemes are in place, including the Yard Olympian which will allow you to see all 38 productions for just £100.

The World Shakespeare Festival and Globe to Globe is funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor.

ENDS

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