© Getty An employee ofThe Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon with a portrait of William Shakespeare - GettyA long-running Shakespeare festival involving schools in New Zealand is under threat after its state funding was cut because the Bard’s work was criticised as “paternalistic” and a “canon of imperialism”. The Sheilah Winn Shakespeare festival is a competition among secondary schools in which pupils stage performances of plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth. For the last decade it has been awarded around NZ$30,000 (£15,000) annually from Creative New Zealand, the country’s arts body. The Shakespeare festival allowed students to explore and interpret the plays in a multiplicity of ways. “I don’t know how much more relevant to context of Aotearoa you can get.”Lu van Asch, a student at the school, said she was angry when she heard about the funding cut.

Source: Stuff October 14, 2022 17:23 UTC