Six-month online festival to mark Shakespeare's 400th death anniversary to begin from Saturday

Kolkata: Marking the 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare on Saturday, a six-month online festival on the Bard of Avon will be presented by performers from UK and will be available all over the globe including India. [caption id=“attachment_2743886” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] William Shakespeare. GettyImages[/caption] Shakespeare Day Live, a digital pop-up channel, co-curated by BBC and British Council, will have leading art organisations across UK, giving performances, analysis, talks and fun streamed online, a British Council release said. A dazzling array of actors, musicians and artists including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Adrian Lester, Ralph Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale, BBC Scottish Symphony and BBC Concert Orchestras is featured on the live channel along with new work from young artists from across the UK and Europe. In Kolkata, the British Council is holding a series of activities including workshops, panel discussions and contests. These include a session on ‘Shakespeare on Leadership and Power’, a mask-making workshop inspired by the Bard’s characters and their monologues among other activities. The Young Adults Repertoire of Creative Arts Studio will present ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s well-known comedy. In another session, students will relive Shakespeare’s world famous plays, learn English through his popular comedies and discover aspects of the Bard’s life and works through podcasts, blog contests and live streaming of videos. They would also take part in a blogging contest on ‘The Shakespearean film/adaptation that has influenced me most and why’.