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20 years ago, Araya from Thailand visited Shakespeare’s Birthplace and made a promise.  Last week he returned to Stratford upon Avon to fulfull that promise.  On his first visit in 1993, Araya had a conversation with one of the Birthplace guides and discovered that the library of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust lacked any translations of Shakespeare’s plays in Thai.  He promised  then that he would bring some as a gift when he next visited and in April 2013 did just that.  In the company of Apinya and Alissa, he presented the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust with beautiful copies of Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Macbeth and the Tempest in Thai.  This generous gift now forms part of the SBT’s collection of over 50 thousand books related to the study of Shakespeare and his life and times.

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This week William Shakespeare was 449 years old and 397 years dead – he was born on April 23rd 1564 and died on the same date in 1616 aged 52.  Today is the anniversary of his baptism at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26th 1564.  That dry list of dates does nothing to suggest the magic and splendour of what William Shakespeare achieved.  How much better to leave it to the man himself to capture the arc of a life with one of his most compelling speeches –  The Seven Ages of Man from As You Like It.  Shakespeare Aloud actor John Robert Partridge gives a unique performance in the actual room where William Shakespeare was born.

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Today it is William Shakespeare’s 449th birthday and there has been something in the air here at Shakespeare’s Birthplace – something special.  The sunshine was unbroken, the sky a perfect blue and everywhere in the house and gardens people were  inspired to talk, perform and celebrate the life of the man who changed the world with words. It felt like a great time to meet actor and Shakespeare fan Marc from New York, who is currently studying at the Birmingham School of Acting and talks eloquently and with great passion about what Shakespeare means to him.

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Today the question is – how big should the birthday card be for someone who is turning 449?  The answer is as big as possible.  It was while I was admiring the giant birthday card we currently have on display at Shakespeare’s Birthplace in honour of Shakespeare’s 449th birthday, that I bumped into Rick from Virginia in the USA.  He signed the card, as many of our visitors have, and it was great to stand in the sunshine talking about Shakespeare on , as Rick describes it, ‘the great man’s birthday.’

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Here at Shakespeare’s Birthplace we’re used to visiting VIPs but a Very Important Duck is something new for us.  OLLI the duck is the mascot of the Furman University branch of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institution, which offers a programme of non credit classes at universities across America to adults over 50.  It was a delight to talk to OLLI’s minders –  Mary and Jerry Thomas from Greenville South Carolina.   In the background you can hear two of the actors from Shakespeare Aloud performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet loudly enough to be heard back in Greenville.

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At the end of a very busy day at Shakespeare’s Birthplace, something wonderful happened.  Our final visitor turned out to be Karen Dyson who sings with The Bailey Sisters – a group who perform their repertoire of early and traditional folk songs at venues and festivals around the country.  Standing in the room where Shakespeare was born, I filmed Karen singing a haunting version of a 16^th century song he would have known – ‘Under the Leaves of Life’. 

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Young, stylish and passionate about Shakespeare, Lucy and Andy from Essex are a great reminder of why words written over 400 years ago by a glove maker’s son from Stratford continue to be celebrated by each new generation.   ‘I love Shakespeare’, says Lucy simply and name checks two of the actors who ensure Shakespeare remains a hot ticket – Leonardo DiCaprio and David Tennant.  Like many of our visitors Lucy and Andy plan to pay a return visit to the Birthplace over the summer and we very much look forward to seeing them again soon.

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The day before her sixth birthday, Hannah visited the  Birthplace with her Mum and wowed us by quoting Shakespeare.  Proving it’s never too early to appreciate Shakespeare’s wonderful characters, Hannah revealed she had worn a Juliet costume to school on World Book Day.  After our conversation, Hannah went into the garden and received an early birthday present of a personal outdoor performance of Juliet’s most famous speech from one of our Shakespeare Aloud actresses.

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There’s nothing we like more here at Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon than watching our visitors break into spontaneous Shakespeare.  When two members of a group visiting from St Joseph Catholic High School in Alberta Canada offered to have a go at the iconic balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, we were thrilled to feel a little bit closer to how William Shakespeare himself would have originally seen it performed – by two young men about the age of Samuel and JP.

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Reciting some Shakespeare in the back garden of the house where Shakespeare grew up should be on everyone’s wish list and teenager Ellie, visiting Stratford from the USA, can already tick that box.  It was a real joy to film her performing the famous Friends, Romans, Countrymen speech from Julius Caesar with such panache.

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