By Richard Garner for the Independent, 29 December 2015
Shakespeare isn’t best known for his links to Wales, despite basing one of his plays there, creating several Welsh characters and even bearing Celtic blood himself, thanks to his maternal grandmother.
The Bard may now find renewed popularity in the principality, however, as one of his most loved scripts is to be translated into Welsh as part of a programme in schools throughout the UK to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death.
But rather than using Cymbeline – largely set in Wales, though not one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays – schoolchildren in Cardiff, Swansea and elsewhere will instead be able to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream in their traditional language.
Organisers of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s celebrations, during which the play will also be translated into Urdu for children of Pakistani backgrounds, claim their efforts will not only bring a new audience to Shakespeare’s plays but boost pupils’ language skills as well.
Every school in the UK is being invited to join the RSC’s “Dream Team 2016” and put on their own version of the play. Performances will take place around the country with amateur theatre companies joining the professionals to take part in productions.
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