Harriet Walter, Ken Ludwig and Michael Wood make Bard Birthday toasts as Cheek By Jowl’s Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod pick up Pragnell Award

WHILE the Pragnell-hosted posh luncheon did not take place this year, the traditional toasting of Shakespeare went ahead during a champagne reception at the Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall on Saturday lunchtime.

The guest list included academics, actors, writers and dignitaries from the Birthplace, Shakespeare Institute, RSC and local councils. MP Manuella Perteghella was there, and there were even a couple of n’er-do-wells from the Stratford Herald.

After a glass or two of fizz and canapes in the courtyard, guests with flute glasses at the ready were ushered up to the atmospheric schoolroom where Shakespeare himself studied, to hear speeches and toasts, and see the annual Pragnell Birthday Award presented.

Proceedings started with an introduction by King Edward VI headmaster Bennett Carr – who is always ready with a witty line – and some lovely readings of the Sonnets by a couple of young students.

Compere for the day was the ever effervescent Lady Penelope Cobham, who became chair of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in May 2024.

First up with the toasts was Dame Harriet Walter, the esteemed actor renowned for her many Shakespeare roles, including numerous with the RSC.

She gave the Immortal Memory toast with predictable panache and insight.

She started: “First of all, I have to say, you two boys spoke so beautifully and with such understanding. I'm really moved that 400 plus years on, people are still engaging with Shakespeare's words.”

Referring to the recent discovery of a letter that shows Anne Hathaway – long thought of to be idling perhaps unloved by her husband in Stratford – actually lived in London with William, Dame Harriet carried on: “Some things have come to light recently about Anne Hathaway, which slightly rocked the boat of the misogynists and cynics who thought that Shakespeare's marriage to her was an unhappy one. It's rather sad that people leapt to that conclusion. So I'm glad that's slightly being challenged.”

Appropriately she then read - beautifully of course - Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds.

Heading down memory lane, she continued: “I first came here as a wide-eyed actress in 1981 to work alongside giants like Peggy Ashcroft and Trevor Nunn.

“And I still feel that feeling of excitement when I walk down this street, or down Chapel Lane, or towards the church. I will never lose those ghosts and that excitement. And to be in this building, to which the schoolboy Shakespeare probably unwillingly crept with his shining morning face, is totally thrilling.”

Speaking about her work performing Shakespeare and as a speaker and writer has taken her all over the world, including Germany, Soweto, Jerusalem, Tokyo, and America, she continued: “At the time when so little unites us, isn't it great that what brings us together is a man who wrote plays over 400 years ago, in this time, and in London? That is astonishing, and it cheers my soul. So there's the real biographical Shakespeare, with his limited biological lifespan, and then there's the universal, everlasting Shakespeare, that seemingly can never die, we hope.”

She added: “I can't imagine a world without him, and I want to thank him for allowing me to swim around in his subconscious, in his inner world, speak his words, and for a lifetime of that as we celebrate his birthday, I want to celebrate the kink of fate that brought John Shakespeare and Mary Arden together, to produce, however accidentally, the child that would grow to belong to all of us. So please raise your glasses and your spirits to the immortal memory of William Shakespeare.”

With that there was hearty cheering, and a swift gulp in the Bard’s honour.

Next up Prof Michael Dobson of the Shakespeare Institute presented the Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award to Cheek By Jowl theatre company founders, director Declan Donnellan and designer Nick Ormerod.

I would like to recap what Declan said, which sounded momentous and profound, a sort of existential analysis of Shakespeare, but looking at my notes I have not got the foggiest what he said - which is of course perfectly captures their brilliant and yet slightly esoteric style. They did, of course, offer great thanks, and expressed how humbled and moved they were by the accolade.

Other toasts followed including American playwright Ken Ludwig making one to the worldwide appreciation of Shakespeare A massive Bard nerd, American Ken delighted the audience with a funny monologue about how an unlikely lad from Pennsylvania fell in love with Shakespeare via Richard Burton.

A new toast, to William Shakespeare and Stratford, was given by Professor Michael Wood. Referring to the schoolroom and Shakespeare houses, he said: “Today it's nothing short of a miracle that so many buildings survive connected with his life. And a big thanks therefore to the SBT for preserving them, looking after them and passing them on for future generations who come from all over the world to see this wonderful place. So in celebrating him I'd like to propose a new toast not just to him but to the town that made him.”

With that we took our last sup of fizz for the Bard’s birthday – until next year.