Stewart To Join RSC Complete Shakespeare Festival

Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Picard, turns 65 today, yet his career is at a peak.

Variety reports that Stewart will take part in the Royal Shakespeare Company's audacious production of all 37 Shakespeare plays during a year-long marathon in Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is also where the RSC is headquartered. Stewart will play both Prospero in The Tempest and Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, both plays in which he has appeared before, though he played Enobarbus previously in Antony and Cleopatra with the RSC.

Stewart's co-star in the upcoming third X-Men film, Ian McKellen, will perform with the RSC as well in King Lear. Star Trek: Insurrection star F. Murray Abraham will play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice from New York's Theater for a New Audience, which will bring its production to Britain. Other productions will arrive from South Africa, Brazil, Cape Town and other countries.

Stewart will also appear in Mysterious Island, which will debut in September on the Hallmark Channel. Stewart's Dune co-star Kyle MacLachlan co-stars, along with Gabrielle Anwar and Omar Gooding.

And somewhat less glamourously, The Patrick Stewart Network reports that the actor has done a voiceover for a cleaning spray. "Domestos Spray. Billions of germs WILL die," intones the new UK television commercial, which can be heard here.

A more complete listing of Stewart's film and television projects may be found at The Internet Movie Database.

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