Toasting Shakespeare in Armenia

1 October 2005
BBC News
By Gareth Armstrong

[...]
Including our hosts, there were 22 of us seated at the long dining table. Altogether we represented a dozen different nations.

What had brought us to Armenia? Or rather who?

William Shakespeare.

We were all taking part in a week-long theatre festival of solo performances based on Shakespeare's works.
[...]
Our host was the mayor of a small town an hour's drive from the capital city of Yerevan.
[...]
Convinced that I held the ace in this particular pack, I stood and spoke of my pride in coming from the country which could claim Shakespeare as her own.
[...]
The accident of where Shakespeare was born - and therefore the language he wrote in - gave me no special claim to his heritage.

His genius was quite simply - universal.

As far as I know, no other country has ever hosted a festival of one-person plays about Shakespeare.

It took an Armenian to dream that up.

It had the virtues of economy of scale and expenditure and gave their vibrant theatre community a focus to welcome artists from other cultures and, of course, an excuse to show off their own.
[...]

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.