My favourite Shakespeare

Picking favourites can be a revealing exercise. On the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, we discover how his words resonate for the Australian arts sector.
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film adaptation of Romeo + Juliet

This Saturday 23 April marks 400 years to the day since the death of poet and playwright William Shakespeare in 1616. Widely regarded as the greatest writer who ever lived, and credited with introducing over 1700 words to the English language – including bedroom, grovel, lonely and critic – Shakespeare’s reputation continues to grow, with successive generations of theatre-makers and other artists forever finding new aspects of his work to explore.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts