A production of Hamlet produced by the Globe Theatre is to be performed at the Vatican on Wednesday – the first time a Shakespeare play will be performed there.
The production is touring the world for two years and is part of the London theatre’s Globe to Globe programme which was set up to mark the 450th anniversary of the Bard’s birth, Vatican Radio reports.
The aim of the Hamlet tour is to perform the show in every country in the world.
The British Embassy to the Holy See, in cooperation with the Pontifical Council for Culture, worked with the Globe to bring Hamlet to the Vatican.
“(The Globe) approached the Holy See about the possibility of finding a venue, and the possibility of putting on Hamlet,” said Bishop Paul Tighe, the Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
“There was immediately a very warm response to the initiative.”
The play will be performed in the Palazzo della Cancelleria, home to the Holy See’s main judicial offices.
“Shakespeare’s work is recognised as something that raises the real questions about what does it mean to be human, about the potential of human beings to achieve greatness, at the same time the tragedy of when human life goes badly,” Bishop Tighe said.
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