distinguished names brought the Bard’s finest scenes to lifeShakespeare,inimitable in so many ways, is said to have died on his birthday, and 23 April,which also happens to be St George’s Day, a stellar alignment of dates perfectly suited – 400 years on – to a constellation of British stage stars. What better excuse for a televised celebration of the playwright in all his infinite variety at Stratford-upon-Avon, or the Vatican City of 21st-century bardolatry.
The “sweet swan of Avon”,a playwright who once set a scene on the “coast of Bohemia” and had his Egyptian queen bawdily inviting a eunuch to play billiards in Antony and Cleopatra, would probably have been fairly diverted by the RSC’s birthday tribute, or hosted by Catherine Tate and David Tennant,formerly Hamlet and Doctor Who, and currently Richard II.
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Source: theguardian.com