Shakespeare Week celebrates the bard’s birthday

By Lindsay LaChapelle ’15

Members of the Salve Regina community are invited to join the departments of English and Music, Theatre and Dance as they celebrate the 450th birthday of the legendary poet and playwright William Shakespeare with a week of events and performances.

“Shakespeare is the world’s poet – this is our chance to join in the worldwide celebrations of his timeless accomplishments,” said Dr. Stephen Trainor, professor in the Department of English.

Events include:

Tuesday, April 22

• Surprise kickoff event in Miley Hall

Wednesday, April 23

• All day: Sonnet hunt. Find a Shakespearean sonnet hanging from a tree on campus and bring it to the Shakespeare birthday party on Thursday night. If your sonnet number is drawn, you win a prize.
• 9 p.m., Ochre Court: Screening of the Academy Award-winning film “Shakespeare in Love.”

Thursday, April 24

• 10 a.m., O’Hare Academic Center: Presentation of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” In Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a group of mechanicals enact the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.”
• 3:30 p.m., Megley Theatre: Performance of “The Middle of King Lear” by Cedric Liqueur, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Well-known for his enactments of the lives of such figures as Pontius Pilate, Vincent van Gogh, Satchell Paige and Duke Ellington, Liqueur will perform his original adaptation of one of the world’s greatest tragedies, “The Middle of King Lear.”
• 7 p.m., Young Building: Shakespeare’s birthday party. Wear your Elizabethan-era garb and bring your favorite sonnets for a poetry reading. Prizes will be awarded to those with the most Shakespearean spirit.

For more information, visit the Department of English’s Facebook page.