London

The Globe celebrates the Olympic Games with a marathon of its own, all thirty-eight plays, each performed by a different theatre company, in a different language.

“Performances will include The Taming of the Shrew in Urdu, The Tempest in Arabic, Troilus and Cressida in Maori, and a production of King Lear in Aboriginal languages. Other languages likely to be showcased include Turkish, Greek, Lithuanian, and the Zimbabwean dialect Shona, as well as a performance of Love’s Labour’s Lost in sign language.” (Source: London, Reuters, 21 January 2011)

Revelling in the vast array of communities and languages that make-up London’s vibrant cultural landscape, 37 international companies will present every one of Shakespeare’s plays in a different language over six weeks:

All’s Well That Ends Well Arpana, Mumbai Gujarati
Antony and Cleopatra Oyn Atölyesi, Istanbul Turkish
As You Like It Marjanishvili Theatre, Tbilisi Georgian
The Comedy of Errors Roy-e-Sabs, Kabul Dari Persian
Coriolanus Chiten, Kyoto Japanese
Cymbeline South Sudan Theatre Company, Juba Juba Arabic
Hamlet Meno Fortas, Vilnius Lithuanian
Henry IV Part I Compañia Nacional de Teatro, Mexico Mexican Spanish
Henry IV Part II Elkafka Espacio Teatral, Buenos Aires Argentinian Spanish
Henry V Shakespeare’s Globe, London English
Henry VI, A New Balkan Trilogy :
Henry VI Part I National Theatre, Belgrade Serbian
Henry VI Part II National Theatre of Albania, Tirana Albanian
Henry VI Part III National Theatre of Bitola, Bitola Macedonian
Henry VIII Rakatá, Madrid Castilian Spanish
Julius Caesar I Termini Company, Rome Italian
King John Gabriel Sundukayan Theatre, Yerevan Armenian
King Lear Belarus Free Theatre, Minsk Bielarussian
Love’s Labours Lost Deafinitely Theatre, London British Sign Language
Macbeth Teatr im. Kochanowskiego, Opole Polish
Measure for Measure Vakhtangov Theatre, Moscow Russian
The Merchant of Venice Habima National Theatre, Tel Aviv Hebrew
The Merry Wives of Windsor Bitter Pill, Nairobi Swahili
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Yohangza Theatre, Seoul Korean
Much Ado About Nothing Compagnie Hypermobile, Paris French
Othello Q Brothers, Chicago Hip Hop
Pericles National Theatre of Greece, Athens Greek
Richard II Ashtar, Ramallah Palestinean Arabic
Richard III National Theatre of China, Beijing Mandarin
Romeo and Juliet Grupo Galpão, Belo Horizonte Brazilian Portuguese
The Taming of the Shrew Theatre Wallay, Lahore Urdu
The Tempest Dhaka Theatre, Dhaka Bengali
Timon of Athens Bremer Shakespeare Company, Bremen German
Titus Andronicus Tang Shu-wing, Hong Kong Cantonese
Troilus and Cressida Ngakau Toa, Auckland Maori
Twelfth Night Company Theatre, Mumbai Hindi
Two Gentlemen of Verona Two Gents Productions, Zimbabwe Shona
Venus and Adonis Isango Ensemble, Cape Town South African idioms
The Winter’s Tale Renegade Theatre, Lagos Yoruba