‘History cannot be changed': How Stratford feels about decolonising Shakespeare

Telegraph

08-04-2025

Stroll down the ancient warren of cobbled streets in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, and the pride in its most famous literary export is clear to see.
Along the roads flanked with wonky Tudor façades, visitors flock to take photos of the bronze William Shakespeare statue outside the cottage where he was born in 1564.
Smatterings of European and Asian languages can be heard among the crowds, while shops selling trinkets – fridge magnets and tote bags – depicting the Bard's inimitable face are bustling with his fans.
The international hubbub is testament to the global reach of Britain's greatest playwright, so it is perhaps not surprising to find disquiet and puzzlement over plans to 'decolonise' Shakespeare's rich legacy in order to make him more 'inclusive'.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the charity which maintains and preserves Shakespeare's work and image, has embarked on a project to explore the 'impact of Empire' on its vast collection of items relating to the writer.
People accessing its collections, it has said, may encounter 'language or depictions that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise harmful' and it is seeking to re-examine these objects to see what they can 'teach us about the impact of colonialism on our perception of the history of the world, and the role Shakespeare's work has played as part of this'.
But the money – some £70,000 – being spent on the project has not gone down well among many of the Bard's fans in his hometown.
On a sunny Thursday morning, The Telegraph finds local musician James Thomas busking his eclectic mix of folk and country songs just a few feet from Shakespeare's Henley Street birthplace.
'The idea of decolonising Shakespeare is absolutely bonkers,' he says. 'Clearly, some bits of Shakespeare may be problematic; I'm sure some characters in his plays were stereotypical, like Shylock the money lender. But this was a reflection of the time and it will be the same with items in this collection; they will be a reflection of the time and most people understand that.'
Thomas believes Britain has 'collective guilt' over the Empire, which is making us apologise unnecessarily for the past.
'We are only one step away from the guilt of the Germans,' he says. 'But we need to stop being apologetic for things that happened hundreds of years ago. Are we meant to take Nelson off the column so we don't offend the French? Shakespeare and his legacy need to be left alone or where do we stop?'
Similar concerns can be found five minutes' walk away outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on the banks of the Avon, which is awash with boat trips and noisy swans and geese clamouring to be fed.
Unlike many Midlands towns, Stratford-upon-Avon has a majority (93 per cent) white population, but the waterfront boasts people from all over the world. Evoking a holiday vibe, they can be spotted perusing the theatre's gift shop, buying tickets to local plays and drinking coffee in the warm spring sunshine.
'We are in danger of forgetting what history is,' says Mike Choules, a retired finance director, who The Telegraph finds sitting on a bench enjoying a quiet moment during a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. 'When you're travelling overseas, after London, Shakespeare is our greatest output. He is part of Britain's legacy.
'And yes, times were different then. In many ways it was an awful time: people were poorer, and housing, health and education were worse. Britain was exploitative too.
'It doesn't make it right, but that's where we were. I don't think anyone nowadays should be offended by that. And I don't think Shakespeare set out to offend anyone. Why don't we look to the future?'
Looking to the future with a firm understanding of the past is also the view of Kirsten Schmidt, a tourist from Hesse, in west-central Germany, who is on a coach tour of Stratford-upon-Avon and parts of Wales. She has time for only a brief chat before her bus leaves, but she tells The Telegraph that decolonising is also taking place in many of her country's museums.
'It is the same in Germany,' she says. 'But the past is relevant to today; we have many of the same problems. We can learn from it.'
Walk around the town, and you soon realise that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, set up in 1847, is integral to life here. Its friendly volunteers are on pavements offering insights into the town and its history.
The charity runs five of Shakespeare's family homes and gardens, including his birthplace, his wife Anne Hathaway's cottage, plus New Place, the family home in which he died in 1616. It also looks after more than a million objects connected to the playwright's life and work, including documentary evidence from his baptism, copies of the First Folio of his complete works, plus literary criticism and gifts from around the world.
Clearly the trust's global outreach is working well; it attracts more than a million visitors annually. But its focus on the legacy of empire came in 2022 after a collaborative research project between the trust and Dr Helen Hopkins, an academic at Birmingham City University.
The resulting report – which came after several years of Black Lives Matter protests – questioned whether Shakespeare's presentation as a universal genius benefited the 'ideology of white European supremacy'.
It stated that while the report was not a critique of Shakespeare's enduring greatness, it sought to address how some of the discourses around him – including his universality – reiterated 'imperial logic'.
It asked that if Shakespeare were seen as a symbol for ' British cultural superiority ' with a 'West-centric' world-view, might this 'continue to do harm in the world today'? It also posited that Shakespeare should be presented not as the 'greatest', but as 'part of a community of equal and different writers and artists from around the world'. And it stated that his global collection was 'unavoidably Anglo-centric' – centring Britain as the point of understanding and all other nations as 'others'.
After this report, in 2023 the trust secured £70,200 funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, an organisation committed to 'social justice, tackling injustice and inequality'. The money was for an 18-month project to explore Shakespeare's international legacy, to tie in with the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio of complete works in 1623, seven years after his death.
The project's aim was to hear from multiple perspectives on its international collections and appeal to a more diverse audience while also addressing 'offensive or harmful descriptions' in its catalogue. It has also organised 'inclusive' events, one celebrating Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet who was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote a poem in his honour, and a Romeo and Juliet -inspired Bollywood dance workshop.
In a statement to The Telegraph, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust says the project 'explores our history of acquisition and how interpretations of our objects and documents have evolved and continue to evolve'.
It adds: 'This is something all museums must focus on. By better understanding our collections' histories, we can tell the stories of our past in relation to our present.'
The trust's CEO, Rachael North, has also defended the trust's 'absolutely radical' approach to inclusivity. Speaking to Arts Professional magazine, she said the project was 'not focusing on Shakespeare as a man, as a writer' but was 'looking at the history and the impact of our museum collection'.
She added: 'I think we should be radically making sure that our collections are accessible and inclusive to everybody and responding to contemporary debate.'
And she denied the trust was decolonising Shakespeare, saying: 'There's a feeling that we are somehow toppling William Shakespeare. We are the organisation that celebrates William Shakespeare. We are the home of William Shakespeare. We think he's great.'
'Shakespeare is loved in Pakistan and India, where I am originally from,' he tells The Telegraph, while standing in the shadow of Shakespeare's statue. 'The Bollywood versions of Othello and Romeo and Juliet have been huge blockbusters, and I think his reach could actually be even greater.'
He adds that while seeing plays in the UK could be a very white environment, he doesn't feel excluded from Shakespeare. 'I think many people from my background don't go to the theatre but access his work through film. I don't really think people of my heritage feel excluded from this.'
He adds that there is no need to apologise for Shakespeare's work or focus on decolonising his collection or making it more inclusive.
'Shakespeare's legacy needs to be left alone,' he says. 'History cannot be changed, we learn and move on. Shakespeare did nobody any harm and he and his time needs to be accepted for what it is.'