Bibliotheca Alexandrina will host a number of events commemorating the 400-year anniversary of the 1616 death of iconic playwright William Shakespeare between 21 and 27 April.

The activities taking place between 23 and 27 April are part of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's special programme 'Shakespeare 400: Forever and a Day festival'

The highlights will include exhibitions, workshops, seminars, two plays staged by the renowned Prague Shakespeare Company coming with Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing, the UK's Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company among many others.

A musical concert on 27 April titled Shakespeare in Music will present Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture, Dvořák’s Othello Overture and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night's Dream, to be performed by the BA Orchestra and Choir and conducted by Hisham Gabr.

Still on a music note, the K’antu Ensemble will perform dances evoking the spirit of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

A number of screenings will also present film adaptations of the bard's texts to cinema.

The rich programme provides also events for children, young attendees. A special audio show invites the visually impaired to The Merchant of Venice.

In 2014, Bibliotheca Alexandrina joined celebrations of Shakespeare's 450th birth anniversary (born 1654) with a highlight performance of Hamlet by the UK's renowned Shakespeare Globe Theatre.

Over the past two years, Bibliotheca's Arts Centre has given three production grants to young Egyptian theatre-makers for staging Shakespeare productions and plays inspired by the playwright.

All three plays were performed at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Shakespeare's Women.

Programme:

Thursday 21 April
1pm
Film: The Merchant of Venice (USA, 2004) directed by Michael Radford
Group Showroom 1, Arts and Multimedia Library

Saturday 23 April

8pm
Theatre: Macbeth, Prague Shakespeare Company
Great hall

Saturday 23 - Monday 24 April

Academic activities:
Shakespeare 400 Academic Conference
Seminar on Acting Shakespeare with Simon Russell Beale
Book Talk: Shakespeare on the Arabian Peninsula
contact the Bibliotheca for more details and timings

Saturday 23 - Wednesday 27 April

Exhibition: The Globe Theatre – The Complete Walk
The West Exhibition Hall - BA Conference Center

Exhibition: The children’s library provides a photo frame for Shakespeare portrait.

Sunday 24 April
10am
For young audience:
Shakespeare’s Treasure Hunt Workshop
Library building

1pm
Audio Show for the visually impaired
The Merchant of Venice, translated by Mohamed Enani
Lectures hall

7pm
Film: Macbeth (UK/USA, 1971) directed by Roman Polanski
Auditorium hall

8pm
Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing, Prague Shakespeare Company
Great hall

Monday 25 April

12pm
Film: Hamlet directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1990)
Library building (screening for young people)

7pm
Film: Romeo and Juliet (UK/Italy, 1968) directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Library building

8pm
Music Theater Performance: The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company Live (UK)
Great hall

Tuesday 26 April

11am
Mexican Puppet Show "ArteGuerrero": Hamlet
Small hall

1pm
Opera screening: Othello The Story of a Song Program
(in Italian with English subtitles)

8pm
K'antu Early Music Ensemble (UK)
Small hall

Wednesday 27 April

12pm
Film: Documentary 'Muse of Fire'
Small hall

1pm
Film: Documentary 'William Shakespeare: A life of Drama' (1996)
Main library

8pm
Music: Shakespeare in Music, by BA Orchestra and BA Choir, conducted by Hisham Gabr
Great hall

Programme last update: 19 April, 9am

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