‘To be or not to be there: surely that is the question’ as St Albans celebrates 400 years of the Bard this spring with its four-month long Shakespeare Festival.
2016 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and to commemorate it, OVO - the resident theatre company at the Maltings Arts Theatre - will be hosting a range of intriguing events, running from March 12 until July and across the whole city.
The festival will see all of the prolific playwright’s work being performed in some form whether that be choral singing, rousing symphonies, poetry and, of course, theatre.
Opening the festival will be the nationally renowned group, Propeller - an all-male professional Shakespeare company that seeks to find a more engaging way of expressing the literary legend’s work. They will be presenting a fast-moving and visually stunning 60-minute version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
OVO themselves will be presenting local author, Stephen Tomas’ Hold off the Earth - an interpretation of Hamlet, which draws on several editions of the play at the Maltings Arts Theatre from March 29 to April 2. Ovo will also be putting on a musical version of As You Like It in May.
Other St Albans based companies taking part in the festival include, Company of Ten, who present Twelfth Night in May; Trestle, who will be hosting mask workshops; Ver Poets who will be reading some of Shakespeare’s greatest poetry; and St Albans Folk Music club who will be blending traditional music with storytelling to tell the tale of The Tempest.
On the actual anniversary, April 23, various scenes from Shakespeare’s 37 plays will be acted out at landmarks across the city. Join OVO on their route around the city or at any point, and enjoy the words, the language, the tragedy, and the comedy of the playwright’s legacy.
OVO’s founder and artistic director, Adam Nichols says: “Our idea for a St Albans Shakespeare Festival came to us from an appreciation of the wide range of artistic talent there is in St Albans and to use this to commemorate the death of our greatest playwright seemed an ideal opportunity to strengthen the reputation of the city on the cultural map.”
Details: stalbansshakespeare.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here