Rome’s annual Shakespearean festival returns for its 18th edition from 30 June until 10 October. The city’s Globe Theatre, in the heart of Villa Borghese, has been renamed after Gigi Proietti, who died last November on his 80th birthday.
The 2021 festival – staged in Italian – starts with Romeo and Juliet (30 June-25 July). It is a re-run of the production conducted by the late Gigi Proietti. He served as the artistic director of the festival every year since it launched 18 years ago.
During the festival’s launch in early June, Rome mayor Virginia Raggi announced the theatre had been renamed after Gigi Proietti. Hi died in Rome last November on his 80th birthday.
2021 season’s productions
Among other shows are Richard III (various dates from 10 July to 3 Oct); Twelfth Night (28 July-8 Aug); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (10-15 Aug); Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor (17 Sept-3 Oct); Faust (7, 8 Sept) and Love’s Labour’s Lost (7-10 Aug).
Globe Theatre is reproduction of Shakespeare’s theatre
The Globe Theatre in Rome is almost identical to the one on on London’s South Bank. Both were copied from the original oak and thatch designs of the theatre built in Shakespeare’s time.
As with the London theatre, the design allows theatre-goers to experience Shakespeare’s plays in an ‘authentic’ setting.
