William's World

Globe to Globe - the World Shakespeare Festival is on. Richard II in Palestinian Arabic? Troilus and Cressida in Maori? Each of William's 37 plays is performed by a different theatre group in their native language.

I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream in Korean this week. Ferocious grimacing on painted elf faces, quirky wooden instruments, and many bum-rubbing jokes (is that a Korean thing?). I am not sure William would have dug it, but the culture combo was pretty magnificent.



Korean Theatre Company Yohangza, in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. (AFP/William West)



Here my top picks for the upcoming weeks:

- Antony and Cleopatra by pioneering Turkish group Oyun Atolyesi

- Romeo & Juliet by Grupo Galpão: Leo meets Brazilian Circus

- Coriolanus by famous minimalist company Chiten from Kyoto

- Macbeth in Polish, with influences from Almodovar and Lynch...

Polish Macbeth: Teatr Kochanowskiego.

Standing tickets 5 pounds. To be, or not to be there.

http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/

Also, here an interesting article from the Guardian, on why the festival is cultural imperialism.