On Wednesday 8th November, the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s first folio, St Martin in the Fields London will host an exclusive screening of an original film shorts collection by the BAFTA nominated film maker Jack Jewers that reimagine six of Shakespeare’s most popular speeches and poems for the 21st century.
Each film short uses Shakespeare’s 400-year-old words as a lens through which to navigate the world in which we live today. The six films are narrated by award winning actors including Tom Baker, Eliza Butterworth, Cerys Matthews, Crystal Clarke and Amber Anderson.
Themes explored in the film shorts range the war in Ukraine, to social justice protests and the impact of COVID. With uncanny parallels between our lives now, and life in 1623, these poignant film shorts demonstrate that Shakespeare’s words have never been more relevant as we find ourselves moving from pandemic to global conflict. Despite centuries of change our very human experiences of loss, joy, grief and compassion remain the same.
At this very special event on 8th November, an exclusive film screening of all six film shorts will be accompanied by readings of Shakespeare’s best loved poems performed by professional actors and special guests including Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones, Upstart Crow), Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Mansfield Park, Birdman), Fra Fee (Les Miserables, Cabaret, Hawkeye), Eliza Butterworth (The Last Kingdom, The North Water), Melanie Marshall (Alice in Wonderland, Casualty), Jamie Parker (Becoming Elizabeth, The History Boys), Arthur Hughes (The Innocents, Shardlake) and Allie Esiri (Howard’s End, Sharpe) who will also be signing copies of her poetry collection Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year.
