The Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival is one of the most important theatre festivals in Europe. It is an international event combining Shakespeare inspired performances’ with artistic events, workshops, meetings with theatre creators. The festival takes place every year in the last week of July/first week of August. The organizers are Theatrum Gedanense Foundation and the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre.
The event presents the best Shakespeare inspired performances from all over the world. The Main Stage programme is accompanied by varied other events including workshops and meetings with artists.
The organizers are Theatrum Gedanense Foundation and the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre.
Since 1993 first as Shakespearean Days turned into a full scale Festival in 1997, over 230 performances have been presented. The works of great masters of the theatre were staged, among them those of: Peter Brook, Luc Perceval, Elizabeth LeCompte, Lew Dodin, Oskaras Koršunovas, Roberto Ciulli, Robert Sturua and many others. The festival is a place to experience theatre, a platform to for meetings and intellectual exchanges between artists, directors, actors, animators and critics from around the globe.
The event is accompanied by a contest for Best Polish Staging of Shakespeare's Work of the Season with theatres from around the country competing for the award – the Golden Yorick.
The festival organizers have been developing their cultural ties with organisations from around the world through creation of international projects and co-productions. The festival also initiated the idea of the European Shakespeare Festivals Network (ESFN) which was founded in Gdańsk. Its members include Shakespeare festivals from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Czech Republic and Armenia. The organisation aims to support the organization and promotion of joint artistic initiatives, educational projects and research in the field of culture.
One of the highlights of this year's edition is Forced Entertainment's Complete Works: Tabletop Shakespeare performance (it will take place from 30 July to 7 August at Teatr Wybrzeże in Gdansk).
Soyka & Cracow Singers with Shakespeare a cappella will open the festival.
Festival events are part of #ShakespeareLives programme in Poland.
