The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival is a festival of the plays of William Shakespeare held annually in Cambridge, England. The festival was founded in 1987 by Artistic Director Dr David Crilly.
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of London. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, its population was 123,867 including 24,506 students. Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman and Viking ages, and there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area as early as the Bronze Age. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although modern city status was not officially conferred until 1951.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The productions are performed in full period costume with live Elizabethan music. The festival attracts upwards of 25,000 visitors [1] for the productions which take place over a period of eight weeks in July and August. Each performance is held outside in the private gardens of colleges of the University of Cambridge, including King's College Gardens, Robinson College Gardens, Girton College Gardens, St John's College Gardens, Trinity College Gardens and Downing College Gardens.
The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Founded in 1209 and granted a Royal Charter by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's fourth-oldest surviving university. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople. The two 'ancient universities' share many common features and are often referred to jointly as 'Oxbridge'. The history and influence of the University of Cambridge has made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city.
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The aims of the college, as specified by its statutes, are the promotion of education, religion, learning and research.
The ethos of the Company is to provide access to all to Shakespeare's work without any prior knowledge of the play or author, and the Artistic Director has made it a Company policy to avoid unnecessary theatrical artifice and special effects. To that end the plays are performed without staging or elaborate lighting and the action takes place in and around the space in which the audience sits. The centrepiece of any production is, therefore, the language - thus returning to Shakespeare's original mode of communication with his audience.
In 2009 The Independent on Sunday listed the Festival fourth in its 'Top 50 UK Arts Festival' and 2015 saw the publication of a book on the history, style and development of the Festival, entitled Shakespeare in Cambridge: a celebration of the Shakespeare Festival, by Andrew Muir.
