It’s often said that Shakespeare is meant to be staged rather then read on the page, which makes the current theatre shut down around the world nothing short of a tragedy on par with Romeo and Juliet.
The alternative is to, well, read the plays yourself – this article by Emma Smith makes a good case that reading the plays used to be more common than watching them – but this might be a bit challenging, seeing as how we are all so used to content-rich experiences these days.
There’s no shortage of Shakespearean content online, of course, but high-quality productions are always welcome, which makes Shakespeare’s Globe’s decision to free-stream some of its shows such a boon. First up is its 2018 gender-swapping production of Hamlet (top), featuring its artistic director Michelle Terry as the Danish prince, which will be available from Monday on its public-streaming platform, Globe Player, for two weeks. Other shows scheduled for streaming are Romeo & Juliet (2009), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2013), The Winter’s Tale (2018), The Two Noble Kinsmen (2018) and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Additionally, all 34 productions from its 2012 Globe to Globe Festival, which saw artists from all over the world perform at the Globe in their own language, will also be available on Globe Player. These include A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Korean, a Polish Macbeth, All’s Well that Ends Well in Gujarati, an Italian Julius Caesar and a Richard III in Mandarin. You’ll also find all 37 films from the Globe’s The Complete Walk series, 10-minute short films set in locations Shakespeare imagined and featuring an all-star cast that includes James Norton, Gemma Arterton, Meera Syal and Simon Russell Beale.
More Shakespeare will be available when the Royal Shakespeare Company broadcasts its shows that include a 2018 Macbeth (2018) directed by Polly Findlay with Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack, Hamlet (2016, directed by Simon Godwin with Paapa Essiedu) and Othello (2015, directed by Iqbal Khan with Hugh Quarshie and Lucian Msamati). Details haven’t been finalised as yet but check here to get the full details.
