The Stage

Simon Callow and Catherine Tate pay tribute to Shakespeare in Sky Arts show

Published Wednesday 27 April 2011 at 14:08 by Matthew Hemley

Simon Callow, Jonathan Pryce, John Simm and Catherine Tate will perform their favourite Shakespeare monologues as part of a Sky Arts programme celebrating the playwright’s work.

The actors will be joined by Stephen Campbell-Moore, Anthony Head, Robert Lindsay, Richard Madden, Janie Dee, Colin Hurley and Samuel West for the 30-minute programme, which is called In Love With Shakespeare and will be broadcast on May 28 on Sky Arts 1.

All of the individual speeches will then be shown throughout May and June on Sky Arts 1 and 2.

The monologues are being filmed to honour the work of organisations and charities connected with Shakespeare, including the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Shakespeare’s Globe.

Callow will perform a monologue from Henry V, while Pryce will enact Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech.

Sky Arts channel director James Hunt said: “I couldn’t imagine a better cast to come together in celebration of the very best of the Bard. The performances are a remarkable and fitting celebration of some of the greatest speeches ever written.”

In Love With Shakespeare is being made by B Good Picture Company and directed by Joe Stephenson.