Shakespeare's birthday celebrations 2021

The 23rd April 2021 marks Shakespeare’s 457th Birthday, and staff from the Everything to Everybody project, the  Birmingham Stories campaign, and The Shakespeare Institute have lots of exciting activity taking place, including Q&As, Lectures, responses to Shakespeare’s words from the local community and even a specially created singing performance.

Shakespeare's birthday week is usually celebrated by the Institute in collaboration with @ShakespeareBT, @TheRSC, @GeorgePragnell, @KES_Stratford, and marked by a procession through Stratford-upon-Avon. This year, things will be different. Here's how..

• The Shakespeare Birthday Lecture, co-presented by the Institute and by @ShakespeareBT, will be held online. Professor Lena Orlin will be talking about Shakespeare's funerary monument in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, on 23 April at 16:00 BST.
• The Institute will be holding a Q&A, giving you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about Shakespeare's life, times, work and legacy, on 24 April at 15:00 BST.
• The traditional procession through Stratford, in which Institute folk dress up and parade about the town, will take place in a newly hybrid/digital form. The Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award will also be bestowed online. Await further details!
• Check out the brilliant @E2EShakespeare, chaired by Institute Fellow Professor Ewan Fernie, which also has plans to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday...from a Birmingham perspective. Hints are already on the project's twitter account.
• On 25 April, our partners @TheRSC will have their new production of 'The Winter's Tale' broadcast on BBC Four at 19:00 BST. See some production photos, and further details