Details of new-look Shakespeare Celebrations revealed
The first details of Stratford’s new-look 2018 Shakespeare Celebrations are beginning to emerge, with the town set to host the nation’s first living statue championship.
This year’s celebrations were always designed to be a more low-key affair then the Shakespeare 400 in 2016, when the eyes of the world focussed on Stratford.
However ambitious plans, which will see the celebration extended to three days, are already being made for next year’s event by the town and district councils in partnership with LSD Promotions.
The first new feature, the inaugural National Living Statue Championship, was revealed this week, with organisers confident it will become an annual feature of the festivities, exclusive to Stratford.
There will be a £5,000 prize for the professional ‘best statue’ while there will be cash prizes of £500 for the best amateur statue and £50 for the best children’s statue.
The competition will begin on Friday evening with Contestants will all be offered individual pitches under pop-up marquees with lighting, before busking between 8.30pm and 10.30pm.
Statues will continue to busk on Saturday on Waterside and Bancroft Gardens after the parade, while on Sunday they will be asked to take up positions in Bancroft Gardens as judging takes place.
Sarah Summers, clerk at Stratford Town Council, said: “There is a world championships for living statues in Arnhem in September, but as far as we know at the moment there is no UK national competition.
“LSD Promotions are planning to visit the Arnhem championships to ask some of the statues if they would be interested in competing in Stratford. These statues are amazing, they make their living from it and if we had 50 statues or so for the first year I would be delighted. We are offering prize money, but we believe this event will be of great benefit to the town, the organisers of the event in Arnhem claim to attract 350,000 visitors. Hopefully we can get statues from all over the world coming.
“There will be a lot of new elements to the celebrations in 2018, of course all the traditional parts will be retained, but aside from those we want to create a great community carnival pageant, which is light and entertaining.
“We had such fantastic feedback after the Shakespeare 400 celebrations, when we did depart from the norm and let our hair down a bit, so we thought we would try and build on that next year. People enjoy an exciting spectacle, they don’t just want to see people in suits walking through the streets.”
Sarah explained that although Shakespeare would still play a central role in the festivities, this focus would be relaxed slightly, with visitors encouraged to come along dressed as any literary character, not just Shakespearean ones.
Other new elements planned for next year’s celebrations include a craft market with demonstrations on the Rec Ground, an old-fashioned carousel, an open mic poetry corner and a book signing area.
There are also plans for a sound and light display on the river during Saturday evening.
The Shakespeare 400 Celebrations were hailed as a fantastic success, with stars of stage and screen descending on the town to toast the Bard.
Sarah later received a Pride of Stratford Award in recognition of her efforts in helping to organise the event.
