World Wide Will

Shakespeare's works have universal appeal and have been adapted for many different countries and cultures. They are timeless and feature topics most people can relate to - love, passion, jealousy and scheming as well as revenge, war and murder.

Shakespeare perfected the art of presenting characters in a way that makes it easy to either identify with protagonists or reject them. Take "Macbeth" (pictured here in a scene from a Tehran play) as an example. It tells the story of the quest for power. Macbeth's scheming makes him King of Scotland, but it ends in a murderous frenzy.

Shakespeare has proven compatible with African mythology. "Okavango MacBeth" was Botswana's first-ever opera performance in 2009. Director Alexander McCall Smith adapted the plot to reflect the life and political situation in the country. He used lay actors who performed in an old garage.

The Japanese film "Kumonosu-jo" ("The Castle of the Spider's Web"), directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in 1957, features a 16th century "Samurai" Shakespeare. The masterpiece managed to recreate Shakespeare's tragedy with oppressive yet beautiful imagery.

Baz Luhrmann chose 1990s pop culture as the setting for his 1996 take on "Romeo and Juliet", played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. The film made Shakespeare real for many people by being entertainment for the masses - exactly as Shakespeare's works were when he wrote them.

Why not do a sporty version of arguably the world's most romantic love story? That's what Rasta Thomas and Adrienne Canterna thought. They brought their rock ballet interpretation to the stage last year. The premiere was in Hamburg.

In "Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad" (2012), the Iraqi Theatre Company made its own version of Shakespeare's most famous love story. In the Iraqi adaptation, Romeo is a Shiite and Juliet is a Sunni. The piece expands the dramatic conflict from two lovers' rival families to the social divisions of an entire nation -and even of an entire world religion.

After Romeo and Juliet, "Hamlet" is Shakespeare's most famous piece. Set in Denmark, Prince Hamlet seeks to avenge the murder of his father, the late king. His quest for vengeance brings ruin to most of the royal family. With a slight change in focus, the play also works in Russia. Pictured above, Nikolay Lazarev delivers a monologue as Hamlet at the Theatre of the Russian Army in Moscow (2006).

East Asian theater also fondly uses Shakespeare's works as inspiration. The "Yohangza" theater company adapted "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for South Korean audiences (2010). In an explosion of music and movement, Yohangza mixes Shakespeare's original with Korean mythology and theatrical tradition.

Shakespeare's influence has reached the Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian desert. Majd Ammari, who fled Syria's civil war at age 13, proudly plays King Lear (08.03.2014). The Syrian actor and director Nawwar Bulbul worked closely with the camp's children for more than two months on the play. Bulbul hopes that the performance will bring attention to the poor conditions in the camp.

The 1960s were a golden age for Afghanistan's theater scene. But then the Taliban came and severely restricted the arts. In July 2012, the performers pictured above brought Shakespeare's "The Tempest" to the stage in Kabul. With the Taliban retaking Kabul in 2021, Shakespeare will once again disappear from Kabul's stages.