On this day...

Today is World Theatre Day. Created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute, World Theatre Daystates its aims to be: 'to promote international exchange of knowledge and practice in theatre arts in order to consolidate peace and solidarity between peoples, to deepen mutual understanding and increase creative co-operation between all people in the theatre arts'.

Each year, a famous personality in the field, is invited to give a message and 2010 was the turn of Dame Judi Dench. She claimed theatre to have 'the ability to make us smile, to make us cry, but should also make us think and reflect'. Her full message can be read here. In a year when Hollywood stars have graced the stage and West End theatre has undergone a near revival, it is all the more important to use theatre to help inspire those throughout the globe.

What fools these mortals be....

Almost 50 years after her last performance for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Judi Dench has once again taken to the stage. Sir Peter Hall's production, at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, portrays the Queen of the fairies, Titania, as Queen Elizabeth I, who is in love with the theatre. The play, hugely popular in sales, yesterday received its first press reviews. Overwhelmingly in praise of the production, they included the such remarks as; 'Dench can send a thrill of wonder through a line of Shakespeare like wind rippling through a field of wheat' and 'Hall's latest production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is exquisitely well judged in its light-footed, lucid, poetically persuasive, wonderfully funny and brilliantly well-spoken way'.

My lord, the queen would speak with you...

Patrick Stewart is one of the leading names on the New Year's Hounour List announced today. Stewart is being awarded with a knighthood for his services to drama, joining fellow Shakespearian actors Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in receiving the accolade. During the years, Stewart has been heavily involved in the Royal Shakespeare Company, most recently alongside David Tennant as Claudius in the 2008 production of 'Hamlet', aired last week on the BBC. Stewart, already the recipient of an OBE, said that he was 'very proud' and that theatre has always been his 'great joy'.

Judi Dench the fairy queen...

Judi Dench is set to star in the Rose Theatre's production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' next year. The Kingston theatre, currently showing Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island', have said they are 'delighted' by the announcement. Dench has been a long standing supporter of the theatre, having previously hosted fundraisers. She will play the part of Titiana the fairy queen, a role she assumed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. The production will run from 9th February until 20th March. Tickets are now on sale and can be booked here