London’s Shakespeare’s “Globe” theatre commenced the “Globe to Globe” festival, which will showcase the performances of every single Shakespear’s play, lrt.lt reported on 23 April.
Among them — Eimuntas Nekrošius‘ “Hamlet” with Andrius Mamontovas playing the protagonist.
As London is in preparations for the Olympic Games, the organizators call the festival the Olympics of Culture.
The festival “Globe to Globe”, which started on the day of William Shakespeare’s death, will include all 37 of playwright’s works; they will also be presented in 37 of the world’s languages, from Swahili to sign language.
Participating actors will also recite Hamlet’s monologue “To be or not to be” lines in a wide variety of languages. Among them — Andrius Mamontovas playing Hamlet in Eimuntas Nekrošius’ play.
E. Nekrošius’ „Hamlet“, is performed for 15 years already, however has never been shown in London.
It’s a special occasion for a troupe from Somalia: W. Shakespeare is performed in Somali for the first time.
According to the festival’s artistic director, to watch W. Shakespeare in different languages is not difficult, because W. Shakespeare has won people’s hearts for more than 400 years. He also claims that travelling around the world he has noticed that W. Shakespeare is not only English dramatist; he is a part of the world’s culture.
“If you go to Armenia’s village you can meet a person named Shakespeare, who is called his name out of respect. So you can meet Shakespeare Kardashian. Or, for example, one of the most famous Armenia’s football player’s name is Hamlet”, — said the festival’s artistic director Tom Bird.
“Globe to Globe” is a part of a worldwide Shakespeare’s festival, which will last until November; the plays will be performed in Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Wales.
London’s festival will last until June. Eimuntas Nekrošius’ „Hamlet“ will be performed in the last days of the festival.
Translated by Ieva Kirdeikytė
