York International Shakespeare festival review – the bard without borders

York St John University, York
Footsbarn Travelling Theatre’s Twelfth Night and a Turkish Macbeth rubbed shoulders with manga, memoir and a Ukrainian scratch show at this boundary-defying festival

Debra Ann Byrd, founder of the Harlem Shakespeare festival, is speaking at an in-conversation event titled My Black Girl’s Journey, companion piece to Becoming Othello, her “living memoir” solo show: “A black friend asked me: ‘Why are you only doing Shakespeare?’” Byrd’s path to the playwright was set after a theatrical agent told her that the colour of her skin would bar her from playing classical roles. Her friend’s question led her to the conclusion: “Shakespeare is my vehicle. He makes a door open in a way not possible unless we have this one thing in common.”

At the sixth York International Shakespeare festival, people from the UK, EU, US, India, Turkey, Japan, Ukraine and beyond share “this one thing in common”. Over 10 days and nights, multinational audiences and artists crisscross barriers, visible and invisible, via performances, exhibitions, concerts, workshops and seminars.

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