William Shakespeare, as you like it!

Almost everyone, who has a penchant for literature or wants to pursue any such liturgical interests, aches to be possessed by the ghost of William Shakespeare; but only at the British council, did we see Shakespeare impersonators dressed up as different characters from his plays. Born on April 26, 1564, Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, so, the British Council has organised a series of events, to pay a tribute to the author and poet.

On Monday, as many as 30 students from different schools participated in the fancy dress competition, where they were dressed up as different characters from Shakespeare’s plays, while on Tuesday, the Council is organising a Shakespeare quiz. 

“We will also be organising a Ship Wreck competition, where the participants, playing a character from Shakespeare’s plays, will have to convince us as to why they should be saved,” shares Christina Singh of British Council. She also says that the choice of characters that participants can play will be listed out, which has 10 options, five of those that are female characters, like Lady Macbeth, Olivia and Cleopatra, while the other five are Julius Caesar, King Lear, and Hamlet.

“We also have a scanning code for books that could be used to download Shakespeare’s books on your phone,” says Namrata Singh from the British Council. 

Shakespeare-inspired films

Western films:

West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins) – Romeo and Juliet

Kiss Me, Kate (George Sidney) – The Taming of the Shrew

Forbidden Planet (Nicholas Nayfack) – The Tempest

My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant) – Henry IV parts 1 and 2

Gnomeo and Juliet (Kelly Asbury) – Romeo and Juliet

Looking for Richard (Al Pacino) – Richard III

Bollywood:

Omkara, Maqbool, Haider (all by Vishal Bhardwaj) – Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet

Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) – Romeo 

and Juliet

Japan:

Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) – Macbeth

Ran (Akira Kurosawa) – King Lear