Hyderabad: Continuing the celebrations of William Shakespeare’s life’s work and his influence on culture, society and education, the British Council under the GREAT campaign, is organising a ‘Shakespeare Mela’ at BITS Pilani, Pearl Festival. Designed as part of Shakespeare Lives, a global programme to commemorate the 400th death anniversary of Shakespeare, the Mela will showcase exciting opportunities for people to engage with culture, arts, education and travel opportunities. It will take place within a Shakespeare-themed environment.
Mei-kwei Barker, Director British Council, South India said, “The Mela promises a rich cultural offering – including an opportunity to experience the British Council’s latest digital arts project, Mix The Play, an Indian interpretation of Shakespeare which allows users to sit on the director’s seat and produce a scene from Romeo and Juliet starring Kalki Koechlin and Adil Hussain. Visitors will also be able to see ‘the Complete Walk’, all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in short 10 minute versions produced by The Globe Theatre set in their original locations – from Venice to Verona, from Athens to Elsinore. The Complete Walk is a multi-screen experience.”
“There will also be opportunities for students to find out more about education and learning, library collections, digital offer and activities, and why visiting Britain is the discerning travellers’ choice.”
This Shakespeare Mela has toured 5 cities across the country from Chandigarh, Gujarat, Pune, Kolkata to Chennai linking up with prestigious festivals on each occasion and the Hyderabad Mela at BITS Pilani Pearl festival is the final in the series.
Digital library: The on-line library membership offer from the British Council includes access to magazines, movies, comics, theatre, eBooks, audiobooks, games and training. https://www.britishcouncil.in/library
Mix The Play: Mix the Play is an interactive digital platform that lets you direct your own play and creatively discover Shakespeare’s work in a virtual setting using different combinations.
https://mixtheplay.britishcouncil.org/
Complete Walk: Watch Globe Theatre’s The Complete Walk, showcasing all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in the form of 10-minute films, each of them filmed on location in their original setting: from Egypt to Elsinore, and Venice to Scotland. The Complete Walk comes to India as part of the British Council’s global programme, Shakespeare Lives, which celebrates William Shakespeare’s work in the 400-year anniversary of his death in 2016.
VisitBritain: As the national tourism agency – a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), VisitBritain/VisitEngland plays a unique role in building England’s tourism product, raising Britain’s profile worldwide, increasing the volume and value of tourism exports and developing England and Britain’s visitor economy.
Scholarships: The British Council is delighted to announce 198 GREAT Education scholarships for the 2017 academic year in partnership with 40 UK Universities, and worth over 1 million GBP. The scholarships comprise 169 postgraduate and 29 undergraduate awards at universities across the UK – from art and design to engineering, law and management.
The GREAT Shakespeare Mela has travelled to 5 cities thus far:
Chandigarh Carnival 25-27 November 2016
Ahmedabad 10-13 January at Vibrant Gujarat 2017
Kolkata Book Fair 25 Jan- 5 Feb 2017
Pune 2-4 February 2017, Infinity 2017 at Ness Wadia College
Chennai 16 – 18 February 2017, Deepwoods, Madras Christian College
The British Council is recognised across India for its network of 9 libraries and cultural centres. We offer a range of specialised projects in arts, education, exams, English language and society to audiences across India and more than 100,000 members. We also provide access to English language training and learning for both students and teachers, offer UK qualifications in India and enable opportunities to study in the UK.
We also manage prestigious scholarships and training awards, including the Jubilee scholarships, the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan and the Charles Wallace India Trust awards. Our English language centres in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata provide a range of general and business English classes, specialised skills based programmes and young learner courses. We work with a wide range of Indian partners in cities all over India enabling British and Indian experts to meet and collaborate and to nurture mutually beneficial relationships.