‘Harry Potter’ Actors Celebrate Shakespeare

Apr 19, 2016

Posted by: Katie Eller

Branagh, Coltrane, Events, Gambon, HP Cast, News, Staunton, Tennant, Thompson

Beedle the Bard may be the king of storytelling in the Wizarding World, but it’s the Bard of Avon who reigns over the English-speaking Muggle one.

Saturday, April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, and several of our favorite Harry Potter film actors will be celebrating his plays in the coming weeks.

The main event is a cooperative effort of the BBC and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC): the BBC Shakespeare Festival 2016.  The BBC announced that David Tennant (Doctor Who but also Barty Crouch, Jr. in the Harry Potter films) will host Shakespeare Live! from the RSC on BBC2 this Saturday at 8:30 pm BST.

Tennant will be joined by Joseph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Ian McKellan, Benedict Cumberbatch and others in a special variety show at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theater in Stratford, England.  The production will also be screened live in cinemas across Britain and Europe.  Movie theaters in the United States will host the event one month later, on May 23, as The Shakespeare Show.

Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore in several Harry Potter films) is participating in the BBC celebrations by playing Mortimer on The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses television series with Benedict Cumberbatch this year.

Into Film ambassador Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart in the Harry Potter films) has a Q&A session at Belfast’s Queen’s Film Theatre as part of BFI’s Shakespeare anniversary events.  Several of Branagh’s Shakespeare films will screen, including Much Ado About Nothing (1993), which he directed and starred in with Emma Thompson (Sybill Trelawney in the Harry Potter films) and Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films).

large_3w93X93zCp6NVhft9F60pEdGF1t

Branagh’s Henry V (1989) will also show, featuring Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in the Harry Potter films) and Emma Thompson.

Please join us in lifting a tankard of Butterbeer to celebrate over 400 years of William Shakespeare’s genius with some of our favorite Harry Potter film stars.  Huzzah!

 

 

 

 





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.