Global Shakespeares

The Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive is a collaborative project providing online access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata provided by scholars and educators in the field. The idea that Shakespeare is a global author has taken many forms since the building of the Globe playhouse. Our work honors the fact and demonstrates the diversity of the world-wide reception and production of Shakespeare’s plays in ways that we hope will nourish the remarkable array of new forms of cultural exchange that the digital age has made possible. Global Shakespeares is a participatory multi-centric networked model that offers wide access to international performances that are changing how we understand Shakespeare’s plays and the world.

Global Shakespeares provides global, regional, and national portals to Shakespeare productions within a federated structure. As the archive grows, you will be able to view and study productions either in an environment focused on one area—Shakespeare Performance in Asia is the first of these—or in the context of world-wide Shakespeare production. The archive is a work in progress and currently includes a catalogue of more than 296 productions, 75 video clips, and online videos of over 30 full productions. This archive is intended to promote cross-cultural understanding and serve as a core resource for students, teachers, and researchers. We invite you to participate in this international research and educational online community.

Peter S. Donaldson, Director & Editor-in-Chief