William Shakespeare as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end. The First Folio of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after "Volpone", although we cannot know for certain which roles he played. In 1610, John Davies of Hereford wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles. In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father. Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in "As You Like It", and the Chorus in "Henry V", though scholars doubt the sources of
Shakespeare in the Park festivals has been performing "al fresco" productions of Shakespeare's plays since the summer of 1976. Theatrum Gedanense Foundation annually organizes the International Shakespeare Festival in Gdansk, Poland. A week-long festival of outdoor plays and events, the company strives to include not only Polish adaptations of Shakespeare plays, but foreign ones as well. The British Shakespeare Company; this Leeds-based festival attracts 15 000 people each summer. The British Shakespeare Company is also responsible for helping to initiate a government policy to send "Shakespeare Packs" to school children of all ages and backgrounds, in an effort to introduce Shakespeare at a young age.