In three years’ time, in 2014, the world will celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. In 2016, we will mark the 400th anniversary of his death.
In an effort to coordinate an international campaign of events related to the upcoming Shakespeare anniversaries, the French Shakespeare Society has set up ShakespeareAnniversary.org. The website will soon feature interactive tools to submit and find events organized worlwide on the occasion of these anniversaries.
The French Shakespeare Society has offered to gather an international committee to collect, circulate and exchange information about the festivities that will mark these anniversaries in cities around the world.
Tentative plans for France so far are to link the two anniversaries in one continuing programme that might spread over two years: 2014 would be retrospective, centred on Europe, theatre and print, with collected essays on the ceremonies of 1864 and 1964, reeditions of texts and protocols, readings on the radio and on stage. 2016 would be prospective, ranging from East to West, Asia and the United States, focused on image and cinema, with exhibitions and films. Meetings in the coming months will seek support for these and other plans.