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President Obama Visits Old Globe on 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s Death

Around the world, the Bard is more popular than ever.

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As the sun illuminated the theater’s wooden stage through the open roof, Obama was entertained for 10 minutes by a troupe of actors playing violins, mandolins, an accordion and penny whistles.

During the scenes, Mr Obama stood in the open-air theatre watching intently and was seen swaying back and forth on his feet to the music.

He clapped loudly following the show and joined actors on the stage afterwards.

He reportedly told them, “Let me shake hands with everyone. That was wonderful. I don’t want it to stop”, Obama said.

According to a 2008 interview he gave to Rolling Stone, the other two works were Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” and Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

“Shakespeare’s genius captivated and changed the world and men and women across England continue to do that today”, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

In 2011, he quoted from one of those Shakespeare tragedies, Richard II, as he toasted Queen Elizabeth II: “To this blessed plot, this Earth, this realm, this England”.

Britain’s Prince William, right, talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, with Kate Duchess of Cambridge, back left, Michelle Obama, back right, and Prince Harry, obscured right, in the Drawing Room of Kensington Palace in London, prior to a private dinner hosted by Prince William and Kate, Friday April 22, 2016.

“The spirit of “Yes we can” has informed the entire tour and it’s an honor to meet the man who coined the phrase, and who exemplifies its spirit”, Dromgoole said.

Wanamaker, who died three-and-a-half years before the theatre was completed, was awarded a CBE in 1993 for his contribution to relations between Britain and the United States, and for his efforts on behalf of the Shakespeare Globe project.

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A pyrotechnician lights a flaming depiction of William Shakespeare during a firework display at the Royal Shakespeare Company marking the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth in Stratford-upon-Avon, in this file photograph dated April 23, 2014. That theatre, partly-owned by Shakespeare, burned to the ground in 1613. “We don’t. We actually have all the angst, the love and the fear – everything that goes with Shakespeare and what came out of that time is still relevant to every single person alive and here today”, he said. The play’s the thing, after all.

Hamlet, Lear line the Thames in London Shakespeare celebrations