Shakespeare’s Globe wants to take ‘Hamlet’ to every country

To be or not to be. Etre ou ne pas être. ¡Ser, o no ser, es la cuestión!

Shakespeare’s Globe in Britain has announced that it is aiming to bring “Hamlet” to every country in the world as part of a tour beginning next year that will celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Bard’s birth.

“Hamlet” will be seen in approximately 205 countries on every continent, with the around-the-world tour scheduled to kick off on April 23 at the Globe theater. The tour is expected to last exactly two years and to finish on April 23, 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

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The Globe has begun a Twitter feed for the tour: @WorldHamlet. The company said the traveling production will feature just eight actors playing all of the roles in a stripped-down production conceived by artistic director Dominic Dromgoole.

It remains unclear how the Globe will bring “Hamlet” to politically volatile countries such as Afghanistan or North Korea, but the company has indicated an eagerness to do so.

In November, the Globe brought its eight-person “Hamlet” to the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The production, which was also seen at Pace University in New York, has received mostly favorable reviews.

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The Globe told Britain’s Guardian that one of the stops will include Elsinore Castle in Denmark, the actual setting of the play. The tour will also include a stop at the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.

The Globe, which opened in 1997, was the creation of onetime blacklisted American actor-director Sam Wanamaker, who worked for many years to raise money for the project but who died in 1993, four years before it was completed.

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