Shakespeare to be celebrated as ‘Man of Stratford’ in 2016, four centuries after his death
Hong Kong will stage Macbeth and several Histories during a year that sees the Swan of Avon remembered around the world – especially in his English hometown
Stratford remained hugely important throughout Shakespeare’s life, argues Paul Edmondson, the head of learning and research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
“People have seen Shakespeare as a Dick Whittington figure, who turns his back on Stratford and his family, goes to London to earn his fortune and only comes back to die,” he says. “[But Stratford is] where he bought land and property, where he kept his library, where he lived and read and thought. We are going to spend the year re-emphasising the importance of Shakespeare, the man of Stratford.”
The 17th-century diarist, antiquarian and gossip John Aubrey, born 11 years after Shakespeare died, was at pains to point out there was nothing so very special about the Bard. The world has not agreed with Aubrey. The anniversary of the death of the man from Stratford, the most famous and the most performed playwright in the world, will be marked across Britain and the globe.
Macbeth is about to open in Singapore, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival will be presenting local director Tang Shu-wing’s Cantonese adaptation of the Scottish Play (which premiered in London last August) and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II and Henry V in March.
Shakespeare’s Globe is completing the first world tour in the history of theatre, in which it has taken Hamlet to almost every country – it visited Hong Kong last September, with local actress Jennifer Leong in the role of Ophelia.