2016 remains a significant and celebrated year for Shakespeare. It is commemorated worldwide as the 450th year since his death in 1616, and following major and clamorous celebratory events in London and Stratford in April, there are still similar programmes continuing during this year in England and elsewhere, including Guyana.
Guyana would have participated in one of the most ambitious projects in 2014 when the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) acting for the Department of Culture hosted a visit by the Shakespeare Globe Theatre. This English company set off on a world tour covering two years and some 180 countries performing Hamlet. The project was called “Globe to Globe Hamlet” and set off on Shakespeare’s 400th birthday on April 23, 2014 at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London and ended back in the UK on the 450th anniversary of his death on April 23, 2016. They performed in Guyana during NSTAD’s production of the 2014 National Drama Festival in November.