THEATRE enthusiasts are backing a bid for Shakespeare’s birthday to become a national day of celebration with their own event dedicated to the great bard.
An amateur drama group in Richmond, North Yorkshire, has joined forces with the Friends of the Georgian Theatre Royal to make sure Shakespeare’s birthday and St George’s Day on April 23 is a special event locally.
Richmond Amateur Dramatic Society (RADS) and the friends organisation are presenting a Shakespeare night in the town's Georgian Theatre Royal, which is the oldest working theatre in the UK in its original form. There will be a three-course, Elizabethan-themed dinner, a guest speaker and local entertainment.
Co-ordinator Gary Winn said while the Scots celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns on January 26 and the Irish marked St Partrick's Day, more had to be done by the English to celebrate the birth of their great playwright.
He said: “We English, who should have so much to be proud of, hardly recognise the birthday of undoubtedly the greatest playwright in the world, William Shakespeare.”
Mr Winn added: “In Richmond, North Yorkshire, we intend to put this right.”
If the event is successful, the organisers hope to expand the idea in 2016, for a longer festival involving local groups and schools for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and death.
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