GLOBE TO GLOBE Festival Comes to a Close with HENRY V, Beg. June 8

The last few days of the Globe to Globe Festival approach, and the last foreign theatre company will perform at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Sunday, 3rd June. A Lithuanian Hamlet will be the last non-English language production. The festival closes with Henry V, performed in English by the Shakespeare's Globe company, which begins on 8 June.

The GLOBE TO GLOBE festival at Shakespeare's Globe sees all 37 of Shakespeare's plays, performed by 37 different interNational Theatre companies, each in a different language.

As the festival reaches its close, it still possible to catch the following productions:

The Merchant of Venice performed in Hebrew by a company from Tel Aviv (28 & 29 May)
Henry VIII performed in Spanish by a company from Madrid (29 &30 May)
The Comedy of Errors performed in Afghan Persian by a company from Kabul (30 & 31 May)
Timon of Athens performed in German by a company from Bremen (31 May & 1 June)
Much Ado About Nothing performed in French by a company from Paris (1 & 2 June)
Hamlet performed in Lithuanian by a company from Vilnius (2 & 3 June)
Henry V performed in English by the Globe's own company (8 June onwards)

The festival opened on 23 April with a haka performed by New Zealand's Ngkau Toa theatre company on the stage of The Globe Theatre.

Other highlights of the Globe to Globe Festival have included:

From the world's youngest country, South Sudan,a specially formed theatre company presented their take on Cymbeline. After 50 years of civil war, in the spring of 2011 South Sudan was finally recognised as an independent country. Out of the horrific troubles suffered by this country's people, the first signs of hope for the future are springing and this production marked an historic step for the country's future.

A new Balkan Trilogy – Henry VI. The three electrifying Henry VI plays about England's first great civil war were presented as an epic and sweeping Balkan trilogy, featuring National Theatres from Serbia, Albania and Macedonia.

For the first time ever a Shakespeare play was publicly performed in its entirety in British Sign Language. Deafinitely Theatre from London translates the pun-riddled comedic text of Love's Labour's Lost into British Sign Language.

In another first, The National Theatre of China performed Shakespeare's horror show of power and paranoia, Richard III. The company had not visited the UK before and its trailblazing productions represent the new face of Chinese theatre.

The world's bravest theatre company Belarus Free Theatre presented King Lear. The company has attracted worldwide support for its work which it does in spite of the threat of state persecution.

Tickets start at just £5, and a series of multibuy schemes are in place. Full details can be found at the end of this release.