Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Chennai: Continuing the celebrations of William Shakespeare’s life’s work and his influence on culture, society and education, the British Council under the GREAT campaign, is organising a ‘Shakespeare Mela’ at Deepwoods, Madras Christian College. Designed as part of Shakespeare Lives, a global programme to commemorate the 400th death anniversary of Shakespeare, the Mela will showcase exciting opportunities for people to engage with culture, arts, education and travel opportunities. It will take place within a Shakespeare-themed environment.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director British Council, South India said, “The Mela promises a rich cultural offering – including an opportunity to experience the British Council’s latest digital arts project, Mix The Play, an Indian interpretation of Shakespeare which allows users to sit on the director’s seat and produce a scene from Romeo and Juliet starring Kalki Koechlin and Adil Hussain. Visitors will also be able to see ‘the Complete Walk’, all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in short 10 minute versions produced by The Globe Theatre set in their original locations – from Venice to Verona, from Athens to Elsinore. The Complete Walk is a multi-screen experience.”

“There will also be opportunities for students to find out more about education and learning, library collections, digital offer and activities, and why visiting Britain is the discerning travellers’ choice.”

This Shakespeare Mela has toured 4 cities across the country from Chandigarh, Gujarat, Pune to Kolkata linking up with prestigious festivals on each occasion. 

Notes to Editor

About Deepwoods

Deepwoods is an inter-collegiate cultural festival that has been hosted by the Madras Christian College since 1980. The revolutionary three day event (16 – 18 February 2017) attracts participation from various colleges from Chennai and all over India with an audience of almost 30,000 youngsters. Some of the highlights of the fest includes a light music show, aimed at integrating youth of different ethnic backgrounds through multi lingual music and we wrap it up with a Rock concert on the third and final day with the headlining act being among India’s leading bands.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.