The British Council has commissioned a unique collection of essays, entitled Living Shakespeare, which explore current global issues through the lens of Shakespeare’s works. Topics include a response to extremism; optimism in diplomacy, female empowerment in India; the meeting of east and west, racial conflict in South Africa and the act of listening.
The collection is available to download.
The essayists and titles include:
- South African playwright, actor and director John Kani - Apartheid and Othello
- US Secretary of State John Kerry - 'As You Like It: The Inspiration of Comedy'
- Nigerian Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka - 'In the Name of Shakespeare!'
- Bollywood actor and activist Kalki Koechlin - ‘A Document in Madness’: Do Indian Women Mirror Ophelia?'
- Algerian best-selling novelist Ahlem Mosteghanemi - When Shakespeare Thought I Was Cleopatra
- British deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie - Listening to The Tempest: A Tale to Cure Deafness
- Lebanese choreographer Alissar Caracalla - Midsummer Nights’ Djinn: ‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’
- Chinese author Hong Ying - ‘And all in war with Time for love of you’