Watch - Shakespeare monologues performed by famous British actors

To herald the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, the Guardian asked British lead cinema or TV series actors (Harry Potter, Homeland, Downton Abbey...) to perform key speeches from his plays. The result is quite fascinating and makes the writing as vivid as ever.

Watch for instance Damian Lewis (Homeland) perform Antony's famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech in Julius Caesar :

Now that is some speech and some interpretation!

For the full experience, re-watch it while reading the text in sync!

If you want more, you can subscribe to the Guardian Culture channel on YouTube (there is a series of 20 speeches available), also a gateway to more cultural contents.