The Latest Breaking News from Shakespeare

Judi Dench talking Shakespeare, conversations with bestsellers Marian Keyes and David Nicholls, and a deep dive into the day’s news with Independent journalists and leading thinkers – this year’s Hay Festival programme is fit to burst with unmissable events. Jessie Thompson picks the highlights

Bizarre pacing choices and gabbled lines undermine the production – but the Globe’s artistic director makes for a compelling king

Christopher Wheeldon strips Shakespeare’s play of needless distractions in this boldly choreographed, nuanced masterpiece

The Black Swan choreographer is bringing his unique take on Shakespeare to Sydney – involving cameras and dancers running outside the Opera House

The theatre director, now teaching at Oxford after years running the RSC, thinks The Two Gentlemen of Verona is perfect for a young cast to argue over. We go into rehearsals

This playful and gorgeously designed take on a perennial favourite is only marred by a lack of pace

Len Gutkin in Liberties on the decline of the humanities.

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

A new era at the RSC opens with a potent staging by Emma Rice and Hanif Kureishi of his classic everyman tale and a clever take on Shakespeare’s comedy that cuts through the verbiage – with help from a Bridgerton stalwart