The Summer Shakespeare Festival 2018

The Summer Shakespeare Festival is the oldest and biggest open-air festival in Europe presenting works by William Shakespeare.

The Festival takes place from the beginning of July to the beginning of August on open-air scenes in Bratislava (Bratislava Castle ).The Festival was started by President Václav Havel when he opened the Prague Castle to artists in the early 1990s in an effort to attract the public there. The Actor Marian Zednikovic was playing on this festival and start production with this festival at Bratislava and the festival has been held regularly since 2000.

The Festival enjoys wide popularity as we can see in the demand for tickets, record audience numbers (close to 10,000 per season) and its overall standard reflected in the unparalleled and lively media response and appreciative criticism. Around 30 plays are staged during a summer in an open-air auditorium seating 300 – 500 people which is as a rule filled to capacity.

The Festival with its annual premieres has established itself during its existence as an event that the public at large does not miss. Plays staged exclusively for the Summer Shakespeare Festival are presented in Slovak and sometimes in Czech.

The festival is held in the courtyard of the Bratislava castle.