Two representatives from the Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London, Andrew Gurr, the Globe's director of research, and Patrick Spottiswoode, the Globe's education director, will be featured speakers at the two-day symposium Aug. 18 and 19.

The symposium and the production pay tribute to Ronald Watkins, a British Shakespearean scholar who donated his collection of Shakespearean writings to Wake Forest's Z. Smith Reynolds Library in the fall of 1999. Watkins was a prime inspiration behind Sam Wanamaker's creation of the present Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London and is an advocate for historically accurate performances of Shakespeare's plays. He believes that Shakespeare's plays should be performed in the type of playhouse for which they were written.

The symposium and production of "Hamlet" coincide with the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival opening of its 2000 season with "The Taming of the Shrew," directed by the festival's artistic director, Louis Rackoff. The event also ties in with the Shakespeare Festival's production of "Hamlet," directed by Imre Goldstein, associate professor of theater, Tel Aviv University.  Participants will travel to High Point to see the Shakespeare Festival's  production, "The Taming of the Shrew."

           The symposium is open to the public. Registration is $75. Area teachers who attend will receive discount and certification renewal credit. The registration fee includes tickets for the two plays.