GLOBAL SHAKESPEARE FESTIVALActors from the Iraqi Theater Company perform a scene from “Romeo and Juliet” during rehearsals, in preparation for the upcoming World Shakespeare Festival, at the national theater in Baghdad. Thousands of artists worldwide including Iraq will participate in about 70 productions, supporting events and exhibitions in Britain as part of the festival. The festival starts Monday. — Reuters LONDON — The World Shakespeare Festival was officially launched Monday, the anniversary of the playwright's birth. It is the centerpiece to the Cultural Olympiad, the arts program that ties in with the London 2012 Games. It will feature King Lear performed in Belarusian, Hamlet in Lithuanian and Othello re-interpreted through hip-hop. The multi-lingual performances are taking place at the Globe Theatre, the replica of Shakespeare's original theatre, under the banner Globe To Globe. Globe To Globe artistic director Tom Bird said it was not difficult to follow the stories even if you did not speak the languages being spoken by the actors. “What I've found from travelling around the world is that you get an incredible sense of what's going on in a show, even from the way people move on the stage and the things people wear,” he said. “What's surprised me more than anything is the way people have taken Shakespeare to their hearts all around the world.”
