All the world’s a stage starting today, as the
World Shakespeare Festival kicks off its seven month run in the UK. The festival is part of the London 2012 Festival (think: Olympics) and it celebrates the life and works of William Shakespeare. The mission of the festival is not only to showcase fantastic theatre, but to also encourage creativity in young people, corporations, and up and coming artists.
The legacy of Shakespeare permeates the globe (no pun intended) and travelers come from near and far to see some iconic locales related to him. In Startford-upon-Avon,
Shakespeare’s birthplace, you can find a museum dedicated to his life. The house on Henley Street offers memorabilia from his life as a writer and an actor.
Barbara insists, “…you will want to visit Shakespeare's birthplace if you are anywhere near Stratford-Upon-Avon. When you get to the house, you enter a large reception area where you buy tickets. This actually leads you into a museum area where many wonderful exhibits about Shakespeare and Elizabethan life are on display.”
The
Globe Theatre in London is another famous Shakespeare landmark. This attraction, ”…combines The Globe Theatre Company, that holds open-air performances, and Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition, which provides historical information about the theater. We were only able to visit the exhibition which provided an engaging and informed introduction to the theater of Shakespeare's time, and the London in which he lived and worked,” reports
schutnik.
And although it is not directly associated with Shakespeare himself,
Shakespeare & Co. in Paris is a literary guru’s dream.
Babaloo says the cramped bookstores are,”… just amazing. Whether or not you have any intentions of buying anything, you will come out with at least one book. Shakespeare and Company looks just like what you'd imagine a book shop looked like 100 years ago (at least that's my imagination). Some great finds in there!”
Check out the festival's website to see all the dates and places of the events!See more
things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon
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things to do in London
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things to do in Paris
Posted by jhartmann13 (JJ Hartmann)