May fortune's gentle hand grace thy path with mirth
Director of education at Shakespeare's Globe, Farah Karim-Cooper, has won the 2024 Sam Wanamaker Award for work increasing the understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare.
Karim-Cooper, who is the author of The Great White Bard, received the award in recognition of her 20 years' service at the Globe. Alongside her existing role, she was recently announced as the new director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington.
She said: ‘I began at Shakespeare's Globe in 2004, where one of my tasks involved developing the library and archive. Those archives, containing Sam Wanamaker's recorded conversations, show a founder committed to scholarship, which inspired me.
‘I saw so much potential for academic research at the Globe that I spent the next 19 years working to bring academics and artists together to share knowledge, create accessible scholarship for the public and build a welcoming and inclusive research environment for students and future scholars. Our research and collections centre, I hope, will be the culmination of these collaborative endeavours, for which, along with this award, I will forever be grateful.’
Established in 1994 by Shakespeare's Globe, the Sam Wanamaker Award congratulates the efforts of those working to improve public appreciation and comprehension of Shakespeare. Previous recipients include director Gregory Doran and actor Mark Rylance.
Fair is foul and foul is fair
Hayden Mampasi as Romeo in Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank Romeo and Juliet
Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank returns for its 19th year in 2025 with a production of Macbeth in the Globe Theatre.
This gripping 90-minute tragedy is created especially for young people and designed to support the curriculum.
Running from 6 March – 2 April, the project will once again offer over 26,000 free tickets for pupils aged 11 to 16 at London and Birmingham state schools, with further subsidised tickets for schools nationwide, and a range of accessible performances including Integrated BSL.
Elsewhere, the Globe is also hosting two interactive workshops for young people and their families. The Hansel and Gretel: Drama and Music Workshop for 5-8-year-olds will explore the story, characters, and music of The Brothers Grimm fairytale through fun activities led by a Globe practitioner. Children aged 9-12 can enjoy the Hansel and Gretel: Spoken Word and Drama Workshop, using creative writing and performance. Workshops take place from 7 December – 5 January.
For young people studying plays, GCSE Boosts on curriculum texts include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado About Nothing. Workshops take place from November to April.
To write and read comes by nature
On 8 July, a star-studded cast of award-winning actors presented Shakespeare scripts at Regents Park Open Air Theatre to celebrate the launch of Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year by Allie Esiri.
The night included poetry, speeches and scenes read by actors with a special connection to Shakespeare's work and to the theatre itself. The book is an inspiring collection of 365 poems, speeches and scenes from across all of Shakespeare's plays, each with an illuminating introduction.
Esiri said: ‘Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year Live! was an enchanted evening that even the mad English weather couldn't hamper. We are all so incredibly lucky that these fantastic actors came out to support my mission to help bring poetry and Shakespeare to the widest possible audience.’
‘It was an absolute joy to watch these superb actors bring poetry to life by reimagining some of Shakespeare's best loved speeches, scenes and sonnets in their own special way, and remarkably with only a couple of hours rehearsal.’