Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench are to join the BBC Two’s Shakespeare Live, celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare since the Bard’s death in 1616. Alongside Dench and McKellen, Shakespeare In Love actor Joseph Fiennes will also star.
So also will the English National Opera, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, singer Ian Bostridge, and poet/rapper Akala. The celebrations will see BBC Radio 3 broadcast new content from poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Ian McDiarmid starring in an adaptation of King Lear.
The excitement continues elsewhere on BBC Two, with Ben Elton’s Upstart Crow – starring David Mitchell – and Cunk on Shakespeare – starring Philomena Cunk – appearing beside The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses directed by Sam Mendes. The show will star Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Keeley Hawes, Sophie Okenedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sir Michael Gambon, and Tom Sturridge.
Finally on BBC One, Matt Lucas, Maxine Peake, John Hannah, Elaine Page, Richard Wilson, and Bernard Cribbins will star Russell T Davies’ adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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