Celebrations to mark Shakespeare's 400th anniversary
(Vatican Radio) On April 23rd
1616 the playwright William Shakespeare died on his birthday leaving behind him
a wealth of works that are performed and recited 400 years on.
The celebrations are in full
swing commemorating the life and talent of the man known as the Bard who wrote
plays such as As you like it, Twelfth Night and the Tempest.
Recently in the Vatican
London’s Globe Theatre performed the play Hamlet and there has even been a
Shakespearean map of the London Underground unveiled to mark the anniversary.
But just what is it that
makes William Shakespeare’s plays so popular? Lydia O’Kane put that question to
Professor John Gillies of the University of Essex.
“…Shakespeare has always had
this popular cultural reputation, popular cultural impact simply through
theatre.”
Professor Gillies was in Rome
recently to participate in an international conference marking the 400th anniversary
of William Shakespeare’s death
The event entitled
Shakespeare 2016: The Memory of Rome, focused on the playwright’s Roman plays
including Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Titus Andronicus.
He was speaking on his topic
on interest entitled, “Primal scene and brave new worlds in Shakespeare.”
According to Professor
Gillies, Shakespeare has been enjoying a resurgence in the last 30 years which
he believes has a lot to do with the “intense “mediatization” of the
post-modern world”.
The place at the heart of the
celebrations for Shakespeare 400 is the town where the playwright lived most of
his life, Stratford-upon-Avon which is also home to the Royal Shakespeare
Theatre company.
For the many fans and
tourists who come to the town for the celebrations much attention will be
focused on the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a parish church on the banks of
the River Avon.
Church records show he was
buried there on April 25, 1616, two days after his death. Indeed, the
inscription above his grave reads like a phrase from one of his plays:
``Good friend, for Jesus'
sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares
these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.''
A true playwright to the very
end.
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