Touring ‘Hamlet’ troupe marks Shakespeare’s birth, Security Council’s new presidency

Encompassing political intrigue, obsession and violence, William Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Hamlet’ is being re-enacted today at the United Nations headquarters in New York by a roving troupe from the renowned Globe Theatre Company from London.

An abridged version of the play, organized by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom, is being staged to mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. The event, ‘Globe to Globe,’ also coincides with the launch of the United Kingdom’s Presidency of the Security Council for the month of August.

“It is a huge pleasure to see just how far Shakespeare has reached and quite how important he is not just to us in the UK but to everyone in the world,” said Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, at a headquarters press conference today. “We wanted to carry on that commitment.”

The Globe intends to stage the production in all 193 countries between 23 April 2014 (450 years since Shakespeare was born) and 23 April 2016 (400 years since Shakespeare died). Having already performed in 28 countries, the Globe said it looked forward to going to the other 176 countries.

Joined onstage by the play’s performers and actors Miranda Foster, Rawiri Paratene and Ladi Emeruwa, Mr. Dromgoole said that “there are obviously going to fascinating, extraordinary and exciting challenges in each place we go.”

The Global has already performed in Russia, the Balkans, as well as in Ukraine on the night before the elections in Kiev, where “suddenly we became the ticket that everybody from the incoming political class had to get.”

“It was thrilling to see that commitment of the whole political class of that country to celebrate Shakespeare,” Mr. Dromgoole said.

When asked how the Global was going to go to conflict ridden nations, he said, the troupe was “determined to try and get into every country” and stressed that international inclusion was better than non-inclusion.