The RSC Share Your Shakespeare for Bard’s Birthday – Back in 1592 Shakespeare was also in lockdown, the ‘plague’, but during that time he wrote his poem Venus and Adonis, however, the Royal Shakespeare Company is loooking to create the largest ever celebration of Shakespeare #ShareYourShakespeare by audiences in our history.

You could perform a speech, paint a picture or bake a cake, could you even teach your dog to bark the word Macbeth, or dress up? Recreate the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, cry some Hamlet over the garden fence to your neighbour.

Maybe if you’ve managed to secure some sought-after flour, bake a Shakespearean cake.

Birthday Celebrations

The RSC announced that due to it not being able to celebrate the great man’s (Shakespeare) birthday on 23 April with actual physical events in the home town of Stratford-upon-Avon, it is aiming to do it virtually.

Do you have a favourite Shakespeare quote, speech or moment? One that speaks to you? Maybe one that reminds you of somebody or something? One that makes you laugh? Or makes you shed a tear? Share your Shakespeare any time, in any way, and play your part in our global Shakespeare celebration.

All The World’s A Stage

Film or photograph your Shakespeare in any way you like and upload it to your Instagram, Twitter or Youtube, tagging @theRSC and the Blackpool Grand using the hashtag #ShareYourShakespeare.

The RSC and Blackpool Grand will share them on their channels throughout the next few weeks, and The RSC will select our favourites to create a gigantic global celebration for Shakespeare’s Birthday, 23 April.

No idea is too silly to ‘Share Your Shakespeare’…

• Bake a cake with your favourite quote in the icing
• Recreate the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene with vegetables
• Perform “All the world’s a stage” line by line with your family on Zoom
• Draw or paint your favourite scene
• Feeling musical? Why not re-write a Shakespeare speech as a song?
• Shout your speech over the fence to your neighbours (two metres apart of course)
• Act out a moment through the medium of dance on Tik Tok
• Get your pets involved
• Tell a Shakespeare story in emojis

In partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, it has launched a worldwide initiative, #ShareYourShakespeare, encouraging people to think laterally to celebrate the Bard.

Gregory Doran, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said “As a global pandemic cuts us off from one another in ways we could never have imagined, and with everyday life as we know it brought to an indefinite standstill, we need stories now, more than ever before. They help to make sense of the world around us and to bring us together, and who better to articulate our collective hopes, anxieties, fears and joys than William Shakespeare. His words, speeches and stories speak to us all in different ways whilst, at the same time, uniting us across borders, languages and cultures.

“With our stages currently empty, productions cancelled, and our buildings temporarily closed, it feels more important than ever to connect with our audiences, artists and partners across the world through shared experiences. Together we can celebrate those everyday acts of human creativity and resilience that continue to inspire us, raise a smile and propel us forward, together in times of crisis. That’s why we are handing control of the Royal Shakespeare Company to you, our Royal Shakespeare Community. And whilst we can’t be together for Shakespeare’s birthday this year, we will instead be marking the day with a global celebration in which audiences everywhere can play their part.”

The project is supported by David Tennant, who recruited fellow actors including Jane Lapotaire, Paapa Essiedu and David Threlfall for a film of them delivering the monologue “All the world’s a stage”, from As You Like It.

“I’d love someone to do that, wouldn’t that be brilliant,” said Kerry Radden, the head of audiences at the RSC. “When we were reaching out for ideas the first two people who came back, one said: ‘I’m going to read a sonnet to my cat,’ the other said: ‘I’m going to read a sonnet to my new puppy.’

“We are expecting the animal community to take part.”

The idea is to create a huge montage of the most surprising and creative ideas that will, on 23 April, be “the biggest ever digital birthday card to Shakespeare”.

Blackpool Shakepeare

Delighted to support the Share Your Shakespeare celebration (#ShareYourShakespeare) following disapointment in not being able to present the first of three RSC plays at the theatre. As You Like It, Measure For Measure and The Taming Of The Shrew were all due to perform in the first triple bill by the famous stratford company at Blackpool Grand. Coronavirus and goverment advising the closing of theatre’s put stop to the performances going ahead.

Andrew Howard, Blackpool Grand Marketing Manager said; “We were so upset, we know audiences were disapointed, we’d worked for over a year on the project and we had an incredible amount of community activity and participation included in the visit, from our Shakespeare ambassadors to our Shakespeare Nation participants, not to mention the number of schools that were involved.

“Be assured though that The RSC will return to Blackpool and we continue to work with all our participants from whatsapp chats to keep everyone in touch, to Zoom bookreading group meetings, passion in the project is strong and resiliant.’

The Share Your Shakespeare celebration is perfect for people who love Shakespeare to ‘Get bold. Get creative. And Get involved.’

Blackpool Grand

Take a look at what’s on at Blackpool Grand Theatre this Autumn / Winter 20/21

Blackpool Grand set out a COVID-Community Communication Programme (CCCP) during the Coronavirus pandemic. Our aims were simple, to CONNECT, COMFORT and UPLIFT. We would Connect people by offering tutorials on communication tools like Zoom and conduct community face-to-face meetings (book readings, youth groups and more). Comfort through stories of heritage, memories and storytelling, and to Uplift visitors spirits through laughter and exercise. Please do enjoy and if you can afford to donate please do.

The information in this story is accurate as of the publication date. While we are attempting to keep our content as up-to-date as possible, the situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic continues to develop rapidly, so it’s possible that some information and recommendations may have changed since publishing. For any concerns and latest advice around COVID-19, visit the World Health Organisation. If you’re in the UK, the National Health Service can also provide useful information and support, while US users can contact the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Main Image David Tennant in Richard II © RSC, photo by Kwame Lestrade