30. międzynarodowy Festiwal Szekspirowski
Date
Wednesday 29 July 2026 to Sunday 30 August 2026
Location
Stara Apteka l Teatralna 4, 80-382 Gdansk

30th International Shakespeare Festival
Festival motto: In Praise of Madness
23 July – 2 August 2026

On 29 and 30 July, the British company Buzz Studios will present Petty Men, directed by Julia Levai. The production is a radical reinterpretation of Julius Caesar, relocating the political drama of ancient Rome backstage in a contemporary theatre and placing audiences inside the claustrophobic space of an actors’ dressing room. 

The story centres on the tense rivalry between two radically different understudies, who spend the evening waiting for their moment while fragments of a jubilee performance taking place on the main stage drift in through the intercom.
 
The production comes to Gdańsk as the recipient of the prestigious ShakeSphere 2026 Award, presented by the European Shakespeare Festivals Network (ESFN), which secured the production an international tour including York, Neuss, Craiova, Ostrava, and Gdańsk.
 

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The International Shakespeare Festival has been held every summer in the Tricity area for the past 30 years. It is organised by the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre and the Theatrum Gedanense Foundation. To date, the festival has hosted more than 250 theatre companies and over 250 acclaimed directors from more than 40 countries around the world.

The festival serves as an international platform for the exchange of experiences, theatrical practices and discussions among communities connected with the work of William Shakespeare, as well as theatre enthusiasts. The Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk is the only festival from Poland and one of just five in Europe to have received the prestigious EFFE Award, granted by the European Festivals Association (EFA) in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Gdańsk is also proud to host the European Shakespeare Festivals Network (ESFN), established in 2010 and currently bringing together partners from more than a dozen European countries. The Shakespeare Festival combines performances by theatre companies from around the world with competitions for the best Polish Shakespeare productions, alongside artistic and educational activities, workshops and meetings with artists from different parts of the world.

More information: festiwalszekspirowski.pl

 
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