It has been 400 years since poet and playwright William Shakespeare died, leaving behind a treasure trove of plays, poems and sayings that still grip the imagination of audiences throughout the world.
The Bard of Avon is believed to have died on his birthday, April 23, in his native Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616.
Every year productions of his works including “Othello”, “Macbeth”, “Romeo & Juliet” and “Hamlet” sell out thanks to the beauty of their language and universal themes of love, revenge, sorrow and comedy.
And the poet can even be credited for his use of common sayings which are still in use today, such as “dead as a doornail” from Henry VI and “fancy free” from a “Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
But how is the ‘sceptered isle’ that he loved so dearly remembering its most beloved son?
A set of £2 commemorative coins marking the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death has been released into circulation. The special edition pieces feature three designs – representing the playwright’s comedies, histories and tragedies!
Produced by The Royal Mint in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), the collection is the first of its kind dedicated to the accomplishments of a single artist.
Inspired by RSC props and designed by acclaimed sculptor John Bergdahl, the comedies are represented by a jester’s hat and staff, the histories by a crown and a dagger and the tragedies by a skull and a rose.
The coins have gone into the tills at the RSC theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon and will eventually be released to the rest of the country.
Anne Jessopp, the Royal Mint’s director of commemorative coin, said, “Shakespeare’s works have been a huge part of British culture for over 400 years and much of his work makes reference to coins, so it was only fitting that we celebrated this legacy with a series in his honour. We hope that when people find the coins in their change they’re reminded of the impact Shakespeare has had on their lives.” BBC drama series ‘Doctors’ is to celebrate the anniversary with a week of episodes inspired by the playwright’s poetry.
All five episodes of the Midlands-based afternoon soap in the run-up to next Saturday’s commemoration of the Bard’s death will feature a voiceover of a Shakespearean sonnet at a key point in the storyline.
Explaining the reasons behind the tribute, series producer Peter Lloyd said, “As Shakespeare was a Midlands boy, we wanted to play a part in the BBC’s celebrations to mark 400 years since his death. On ‘Doctors’ we have the ability to do something a little different. A lot of people know one of the sonnets, or lines from them and they can be a bit more digestible than entire plays. For one of the episodes we got to film at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was wonderful. One of the scenes we filmed there involved Heston reciting Sonnet 73 to Ruhma as a way of wooing her. It is terribly romantic.”
A special edition Tube map has been produced in which station names have been replaced with characters, names of plays and modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s work to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.
Among the changes from the real-life London Underground are Westminster, which has become tragedy “King Lear”, St Paul’s, which is transformed into Lysander from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: and Cannon Street as history play King John.
The map also shows three of the capital’s theatres where Shakespeare’s plays were performed – the Globe Theatre, Blackfriars Theatre and the Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch! Dr Farah Karim-Cooper, head of higher education and research at Shakespeare’s Globe, said, “What this wonderful keepsake reveals is that Shakespeare’s work, his characters and themes intersect with each other in fascinating ways. To think about navigating the plays in the same way we think about getting around the Underground reminds us that as complex as they are, the works of Shakespeare are entirely accessible to everyone.”
“This is a terrific challenge for a word I cannot yet pronounce” said Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Why? Well, he wants to use the word “honorificabilitudinitatibus” – the longest word used in a Shakespeare play – in the Commons at Prime Minister’s Question Time to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.
Honorificabilitudinitatibus, which is taken to mean ‘a state of being able to receive honours’, appears in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. The bard’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon will host a day-long celebration on the anniversary on Saturday.