Barbican puts Shakespeare on screen next year

As part of their season Play On, the Barbican have announced they will be screening a series of filmed productions of Shakespeare plays in January.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death next year, audiences will be given the chance to see highlights from 50 years of the RSC's filmed productions. Curated by RSC director of screen productions John Wyver, Shakespeare on Screen will feature nine titles from the RSC's back catalogue.

Trevor Nunn's 1979 production of Macbeth, which starred Ian McKellen and Judi Dench will be shown alongside Peter Hall's A Midsummer Night's Dream from 1959, with Charles Laughton as Bottom. Greg Doran's 2009 production of Hamlet, which was filmed in an abandoned seminary and released for TV, with David Tennant in the title role, will also be part of the line up.

Alongside this, there will also be Shakespeare on the Silent Screen which will include a screening of Hamlet directed by Sven Gade from 1920, with a new original score composed and performed by Robin Harris and Laura Anstee. A silent version of The Merchant of Venice from 1923 will also be shown.

Elsewhere at the theatre, the Barbican will feature their already announced Shakespeare programme, which includes Forced Entertainment's playful Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare where Shakespeare's 36 plays are created through everyday objects.

Ivo van Hove's Kings of War will open in April and the RSC brings back its heralded performances of Henry IV Part I and II, Henry V and Richard II from this year.

For more information head to www.barbican.org.uk.