William Shakespeare - 23 April

April 23 – as if you didn't know already – marks the four hundredth anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, greatest of poets and playwrights. It was also his birthday, of course. We note this anniversary with a review of the current Bell Shakespeare production of Romeo and Juliet, by Andrew Fuhrmann. The season continues at Arts Centre Melbourne until May 1.

We also have three major public lectures on Shakespeare by two leading scholars. Professor Ian Donaldson – the renowned Ben Jonson authority, and a senior contributor to ABR – will lecture on 'The Death of Shakespeare' at the National Library, Canberra on Saturday, 23 April and at Elder Hall in Adelaide on Tuesday, 26 April. Professor Ian Gadd of Bath Spa University – who will respond to these two lectures – will then deliver one of his own at the University of Melbourne on Wednesday, 27 April.