A brace of artistic directors describe why Shakespeare still appeals to audiences..

Tony Graham, Artistic director, Unicorn Theatre
Twelfth Night and The Tempest were among the Unicorn’s liveliest, most imaginative and popular shows of the last two years. Shakespeare’s writing embodies everything we love as theatre-makers: poetry, outrageous comedy, breathtaking narrative that swoops from the epic to the intimate in the blink of an eye. Did he write for young people? He wrote for everyone. Does he speak to us today? And tomorrow and tomorrow. Studying him is meaningless unless his work is performed. He wrote for audiences not for examiners. To perform or not to perform? That’s not the question. Rather, how can we do him justice?

Andy Barrow, Artistic director Oddsocks
The beauty of Shakespeare’s language together with the scope his plays provide for exciting visual interpretation and the emotions that his (still relevant) themes stir up in an audience, whatever age, provide Oddsocks with the perfect opportunity to present exciting, poignant, funny, dark, ridiculous, dramatic and above all entertaining theatre.