However, Brexit and its complexities are far removed from the centenary celebrations marking the life, legacy and contemporary relevance of Shakespeare, loved and revered in Britain and the world. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 – also his birthday – in Stratford-upon-Avon, the home he had returned to from London, where he had spent a good part of his productive life, five years before his death.
The planned celebrations are diverse and stimulating, and aimed at stirring the pot of Shakespeare-knowledge that will only make it better. Exciting contributions derived not just from his extant body of work but also from new research on his life and times have emerged, and with the promise of more. This ranges from new insights into the urban landscape of Shakespeare’s London right up to researches by a team of archaeologists and geophysicists from Staffordshire University, who have used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to look into the Bard's grave Holy Trinity Church, Stratford: which led them to the rather startling discovery that his skull is missing.
Shakespeare400, a consortium of 25 leading cultural entities coordinated by King’s College, London has organised a year-long string of events across the country that include performances of his plays in different venues, talks and symposiums, Shakespeare walkabouts, and readings. The year will doubtless also see an explosion of publishing on Shakespeare.
A thematic exhibition entitled Shakespeare in Ten Acts will open at the British Library on April 23. Described by its curator as the “most ambitious intervention in Shakespeare 400 anniversary year” the exhibition takes the viewer on a 400-year journey of Shakespeare in performance, from the very first Hamlet, acted by Richard Burbage and believed to have been held at the Globe on London’s South Bank, right up to a 21st century digital deconstruction of Hamlet. Each of the exhibition’s 10 segments is dedicated to a theme – the first folios and productions during Shakespeare’s lifetime; the playwright going global from the early 17th century; social attitudes of the time as reflected in the late entry of women and black actors on the stage; the evolution of stage-craft; and even one on the “adoration” of Shakespeare --- forgeries and plagiarisms included.
We learn that the first female actor to act a Shakespeare production was in 1660 – the poster-creator of the event did not think it important to mention her name, although he attested to her gender with the confession to having seen her undress.
A recent survey by the British Council that suggests that Shakespeare is read more widely in India than in Britain points to the playwright’s international currency and stature – which goes back centuries, as we now know. The first foreign enactment of a Shakespeare play was Hamlet, staged on the deck of the Red Dragon, an East India Company vessel, off the coast of Sierra Leone in September 1607. The Merchant of Venice was staged in Calcutta in 1794.
