Shakespeare Night

There are plans afoot to hold a Shakespeare national day of celebration, similar to the way there is a Burns night in Scotland. The Queen has backed the idea and has forwarded the proposal from a team in Stratford Upon Avon to the Culture Secretary in the UK.


For more details see:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/9892145/Queen-backs-calls-for-a-national-Shakespeare-Night.html


What's your most loved Shakespeare play and why?

I like them all with the possible exception of Coriolanus which for some reason I find jaw-breakingly boring. Favourite probably The Winters Tale if only for the stage direction "exit pursued by bear"

Sounds great. I saw a punk theatre group spin off of Footlights do 'As You Won't Like It' at the Junction Club in Cambridge about 20 years back and it was great. Apparently though, the English Faculty was in a state of civil war over the 'heresy' which got all the more people interested. Same effect, got people picking up the plays and having a dekko before firing off.

My three are currently loving the Shakespeare Retold series - Much Ado about Nothing stars Sarah Parrish (who I think is brilliant), Billie Piper and Damian Lewis and the cover says:

Forced to share a studio sofa every night, regional news presenters Beatrice and Benedick appear to hate one another but does their apparent hostility mask passions of a different kind?

I'm sure puritans would have a problem with this and I haven't yet watched them yet so can't really comment, but it has got them reading Shakespeare and being passionate about it too.

For me, Hamlet, I the play studied at A level. I thought David Tennant's recent Hamlet was excellent. Macbeth, I loved Anthony Sher's Macbeth from a few years ago and Midsummer's Night's Dream.

But I also love King Lear, Richard III.

Really I like any Shakespeare I've seen. Pity though that we don't get to see the more obscure plays. We may be missing gems.

MacBeth, superstitiously known by theatricals as the 'Scottish Play' because of the many alleged unnatural/unexpected things that have accompanied it and also its comedic portrayal of everything Scots including Duncan. As for the Shakespeare idea, sure thing but make Dylan Thomas day an official event for Wales too at the exact same time.