Shakespeare in Shoreditch festival stages 1,000 plays

From Best Pies in London by Abi Zakarian, produced with Youaremine, (2014)

A world record 1,000 plays are to be performed over 10 days to herald the start of the Shakespeare in Shoreditch festival this month.

Actors will climb aboard a custom built ‘pageant wagon’ and set off on a tour of Hackney, stopping at schools and parks to perform their plays.

Playwright Annie Jenkins wrote most of the 1,000 plays in 2014 as part of a ten-day writing marathon during the inaugural festival.

This year’s festival takes place from 20 – 30 April and 400 years since Shakespeare’s death. It will bring together four promising playwrights with four of London’s most exciting directors – alongside a programme of workshops, film screenings and talks.

Shakespeare’s links to the borough are well documented. The newly renovated Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch was a venue for Shakespeare’s Lord Chamberlain’s, and was where Romeo and Juliet was performed for the first time.

For more information visit shakespeareinshoreditch.in