It’s here! This week People’s Palace Projects’ Shakespeare Forum takes place at Teatro Vila Velha in Salvador with academics from QMUL Drama Department and staff from the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It is an educational and artistic exchange between Brazil and the UK, aiming to explore, represent, rethink and celebrate the legacy of the English playwright.
Monday night was the first night of Shakespeare Forum and saw Gustavo Franco, the ex-President of the Central Bank and the man who implemented the inflation-busting Plano Real in the 90s, giving an inspiring lecture on ‘Shakespeare and the emergence of capitalism’. Claudia Leitão, Federal Secretary of Creative Economy at the Ministry of Culture, responded with an extraordinary speech linking the Golden Age of cultural production in Elizabethan London to the renaissance of the cultural industries in contemporary Britain. This was all chaired magnificently by Marcio Mireilles, the former State Secretary of Culture Bahia and now Artistic Director at Teatro Vila Velha.
The great news is, that this year – whether you are in Britain or Bahia – you can take part. Our amazing partners Teatro Vila Velha are broadcasting the evening events via their website each day, so tune in here (22.00 UK time).
Shakespeare Forum provides a week of free educational and artistic workshops for 80 actors, directors, teachers and young students. In the mornings, Cicely Berry OBE, legendary Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company leads workshops. In the afternoons, Justin Audibert, Education Associate Practitioner at the RSC, takes the reins. Alongside this, Dr Bridget Escolme QMUL Drama Department, and Michael Corbidge, Senior Voice and Text Practitioner at the RSC, will lead sessions with young actors and educators across Bahia.
Here is a list of discussions and masterclasses that are being broadcast from Teatro Vila Velha as part of Shakespeare Forum.
18 Feb 19.00 (2200 UK time): The Economy of Shakespeare – Lessons for survival in Elizabethan Theatre
19 Feb 1900 (2200 UK time): The Construction of Shakespeare’s text in Translation
20 Feb 1900 (2200 UK time): Which Shakespeare are we talking about when we talk about Shakespeare – Shakespeare Here and Now
22 Feb 1900 (2200 UK time): Shakespeare, Our Brazilian Contemporary a discussion and masterclass with Cicely Berry and Justin Audibert (RSC)
23 Feb 0900 (1200 UK time): Shakespeare and building the future – Shakespeare and education
The Shakespeare Forum is a Transform Project with support from the British Council and is co-funded by the Cultural Foundation of the State of Bahia (FUNCEB).