Where there's a Will, there's a way. This month, to mark the 442nd anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth, the Royal Shakespeare Company will open its Complete Works Festival in tiny, tidy Stratford-upon-Avon, where the bard was born and buried. During the next year, every word Shakespeare ever wrote can be heard there, from the lips of some of the world's greatest players—every tragedy, every comedy, every major poem, every sonnet. every major poem, every sonnet.

The idea is the brainchild of the R.S.C.'s inventive artistic director, Michael Boyd. Fifteen of the 37 plays will be presented by the R.S.C. itself, and Boyd is emphatic about returning to the ensemble approach that helped forge the company's reputation, preferring group triumphs over stunning moments of stardom. Not that there will be any shortage of stars. Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart are returning from the glory days of the R.S.C. to share the stage with Britain's, and the world's, brightest new talents. The cycle will include a Japanese Titus Andronicus, a Russian Twelfth Night, and a version of Richard III with a protagonist envisioned as a young Saddam Hussein. The message, perchance: no writer in any medium has ever equaled Shakespeare's output of  verbal imagery, unforgettable characters, sweeping narrative, and the piercing, delightful rightness that seems to soar from the stage to the soul. If theater be the food of live, play on.