Competition to imagine Shakespeare’s final home launched on Minecraft
School children and grown-up gamers are invited to get creative and imagine what Shakespeare’s final home may have looked like in a brand new competition using popular online block building game, Minecraft.
Use your imagination to design what Shakespeare’s home may have looked like behind these gates (credit: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust)
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the non-profit organisation that cares for the world’s greatest Shakespeare heritage sites in Stratford-upon-Avon, has launched its Shakescraft competition where budding digital architects from all over the world can, for the first time, use their imaginations to digitally design New Place, the grand family home in Stratford-upon-Avon where William Shakespeare and his family lived for 19 years.
Shakescraft is free to enter, and available in three different age categories; under 11’s, 12 – 16 year olds, and over 16’s. Judges are looking for Minecraft fans to design their very own version of Shakespeare’s home based on the footprint of New Place, with the most imaginative creations in with a chance to win some fantastic Minecraft and Shakespeare goodies worth £100.
The competition coincides with work starting on the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s project to transform the site of Shakespeare’s New Place into a contemporary heritage landmark in celebration of 400 years of Shakespeare’s legacy.
Julie Crawshaw, Shakespeare’s New Place project manager at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: “We recently welcomed dozens of local primary school classes to the site of New Place and it was really encouraging to see their interest and enthusiasm for Shakespeare. I know from personal experience how kids of all ages love Minecraft, so this competition is a fantastic opportunity to ignite young people’s interest in Shakespeare, and have fun at the same time. Although his house no longer stands, we’re sure of the footprint of the site thanks to recent archaeological discoveries, so it’ll be really interesting to see people’s ideas of how Shakespeare would have lived and entertained in this grand family home.”
For details on how to enter, visit www.shakescraft.com. The competition closes on 31 August 2015, with winners announced in September.
About Shakespeare’s New Place
William Shakespeare bought New Place in 1597 at the height of his career as a successful playwright, and was considered the largest house in Stratford-upon-Avon at the time. Sadly, New Place no longer exists after it was demolished in 1759 by its then owner, Reverend Francis Gastrell, who was reputedly annoyed by visiting fans of Shakespeare, as well as a tax dispute with the local parish.
With much of its heritage hidden below ground or in the extensive archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, it has been difficult for many visitors to get a real sense of the site’s significance and history. But now, the £5.25million project to re-imagine the site of New Place will tell the story of the world famous playwright at the height of his success as a family man, writer and prominent citizen of Stratford-upon-Avon. This is the single most significant Shakespearian project anywhere in the world to commemorate 400 years of Shakespeare’s legacy, and due to reopen on 23 April 2016, the 400th anniversary of his death.
