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Events 250 years after Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare festival

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust David GarrickShakespeare Birthplace Trust
"Celebrity" David Garrick was a "huge Shakespeare fan", the birthplace trust says

Events are being held to mark 250 years since a Shakespeare festival "put Stratford-upon-Avon on the map".

The festival was set up by prominent actor David Garrick, who brought the great and good of 18th Century society to the playwright's home town, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust said.

The Jubilee from 6 September 1769 "established the Shakespeare tourism industry in Stratford", it added.

This week people can contribute to an art project for the anniversary.

A discussion by a panel of experts on "Garrick's influence on both Stratford-upon-Avon and our ongoing fascination with Shakespeare" will also take place at The Shakespeare Centre on 10 August.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Stratford-upon-Avon's High Cross during the Garrick JubileeShakespeare Birthplace Trust
The Jubilee in 1769 took place five years after the bicentenary of Shakespeare's birth in 1564

It was said Garrick stayed in Shakespeare's birthplace and the Staffordshire thespian "hung a banner out of the window saying 'This is the birth room of William Shakespeare'," the trust said.

The Hereford-born actor had "an awful lot to do with making him popular with the masses", the trust's Rosalyn Sklar said.

She stated: "He knew what people enjoyed and actually this angered some of the more academic elites.

"There was some criticism of Garrick that he was creating pageantry out of Shakespeare, this idea of dumbing down Shakespeare I suppose.

"But Garrick knew that people would enjoy the pageantry, the songs, the music, the celebration."

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Garrick delivering his ode at his Jubilee of 1769Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Garrick delivered his An Ode upon dedicating a building and erecting a statue to Shakespeare at Stratford in 1769

The man who had the Lichfield Garrick theatre named after him "sort of ushered in a new style of acting", very expressive, letting "emotions very fluidly ripple across his face", she added.

The museum collections officer also said he had a "mobile wig made that stood on end when he performed Hamlet".

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Garrick's Shakespeare Jubilee ticketShakespeare Birthplace Trust
At the time Stratford-upon-Avon was "relatively unknown to the outside world", the trust said

On the same dates the festival ran, 6 to 8 September, two pairs of giant binoculars will appear on Henley Street and the Bancroft Gardens.

Animations showing how people imagine the town in 100 years' time will play inside the binoculars and be layered over real-time footage of Stratford.

The first of two workshops for residents' ideas for the binoculars art project will be held at 11:00 BST on Tuesday at Tyler House, Tyler Street.

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