Katara – the Cultural Village will be holding two public performances this weekend by the internationally and critically acclaimed Reduced Shakespeare Company, which has performed at The White House and London’s West End.

As part of the ‘Great British Festival Qatar 2016,’ the performances will take place at Katara’s Drama Theatre (Building 16) at 1pm and 7pm on March 11 to mark Shakespeare’s 400th death anniversary.

The performances also form part of an international initiative called “Shakespeare Lives” set up by the British government in memory of the anniversary of his death.

The group will perform one of its most popular and accessible shows when it opens to the public, acting out abridged versions of all of Shakespeare’s in just 97 minutes.

The shows follow a week of successful performances to local schools in Qatar. The schools activity contributes to the wider efforts of the British Council to further strengthen cultural relations between the UK and Qatar, including making the works of Shakespeare more accessible to a young audience.

A number of other Shakespeare-related events will take place across Doha throughout the festival. A film screening of Much Ado About Nothing – for the first time with Arabic subtitles – will be shown at Katara Drama Theatre on 15 March.

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will also play a selection of famous music inspired by Shakespeare’s plays at the Qatar National Convention Centre on March 19.