Festival a feast of Bard’s creativity
The award-winning actor, Richard Griffiths, is the special guest at the first Lincoln Shakespeare Festival.
The event, which runs from Friday, August 27, to Sunday, August 29, marks the life and times of William Shakespeare.
Festival co-ordinator Laura Turner said: “This is an exciting new venture for Lincoln. We hope that the festival will become one of the region’s major theatre and tourist attractions over the coming years.
“The programme of events includes an Evening Of Shakespeare with Richard Griffiths.”
Laura said she was thrilled and honoured to welcome Richard to Lincoln for this exclusive event.
He will officially open and inaugurate the very first festival with a selection of his favourite readings from the Bard’s best-loved plays.
Guests will find out more about Richard’s life, having starred in the film, The History Boys, and the television series, Pie In The Sky, and his own personal love of Shakespeare in a one-off question and answer session.
Laura said: “Everyone is invited to bring along their own personal favourite speech or scene for a Jukebox Shakespeare part of the evening.”
The event takes place in The Lincoln Suite at The Lawn Complex on Union Road on Saturday at 7pm.
Tickets for this event are free but must be booked in advance.
Members of the Lincoln-based Chapterhouse Theatre Company will present The Merchant Of Venice in the grounds of The Lawn Complex on Friday from 7.30pm, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Sunday at 6pm.
Budding young writers are invited to join Laura Turner, who is also a playwright, for a creative writing workshop on Re-Imagining Shakespeare in The Cathedral Centre on Saturday from 10.30am.
The Festival Players will then present Around The Globe: Roving Shakespeare along Steep Hill and and Uphill Lincoln from noon to 1pm, and again on Sunday.
Tomorrow, actress Georgina Sherrington from The Worst Witch will lead a discussion on Kings, Clowns And Company in The Cathedral Centre at 12.30pm.
The Distraction Theatre Company will stage The Merry Wives Of Henry VIII in the grounds of The Lawn Complex at 2pm.
On Sunday there will be an action-packed workshop on Swords And Shakespeare: How We Fought in St Paul’s Square, Westgate, with demonstrations at noon, 1.30pm and 3.30pm.
Titania’s Magical Creatures Workshop takes place in the grounds of The Lawn at 1pm, while there will be an Elizabethan Parade through Lincoln from The Lawn at 2pm.
For more details contact Laura on 01522 569222 or email lincolnshakespearefestival@hotmail.co.uk
