Globe To Globe: 37 Languages, 37 Plays

Globe to Globe is part of the World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) for the London 2012 Festival. It involves the staging of 37 plays in 37 different languages. The World Shakespeare Festival is a celebration of Shakespeare as the world’s playwright. Over one million tickets are on sale. It runs from 23 April to November 2012 and forms part of London 2012 Festival, which is the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. Globe to Globe will bring leading artists from all over the world together in a UK-wide festival this summer.   

Shakespeare's plays, first travelled in English, soon multiplied into many fresh journeys, in a whole host of different tongues. Globe to Globe is bringing together artists from all over the globe, to enjoy speaking these plays in their own language, in the iconic Globe, within the architecture Shakespeare wrote for. The artists will play the Globe way – telling stories through the word and the actor, complemented by costumes, music and dance. The thirty-seven languages include: 

Hindi, Shona, Yoruba, South Africa, Gujarati, Turkish, Georgian, Dari Persian, Japanese, Juba Arabic, Lithuanian, Mexican Spanish, Argentine Spanish, English, Serbian, Albanian, Macedonian, Castilian Spanish, Italian, Armenian, Belarusian, British Sign Language, Polish, Russian, Hebrew, Swahili, Korean, French, Hip Hop, Greek, Palestinian Arabic, Mandarin, Brazilian Portuguese, Urdu, Bangla, German, Cantonese, Maori

Each of these languages will inevitably bring their own music to the stage - whilst interpreting the Shakespearean play with their own cultural flare. The sheer diversity of each of the staged performances will transform Shakespeare as you know it - into a new version of Shakespeare as you like it.