Six degrees of separation from William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's play Hamlet is scheduled to arrive at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, in Wan Chai, on Friday, as part of a two-year-tour by the London-based Globe Theatre that will see the troupe take the play to every country on Earth to celebrate 450 years since the birth of the English poet, playwright and actor. Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works, including two operas by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi …

The singer, songwriter and actress, who studied Italian opera at the Music Academy of the West, in Santa Barbara, before hitting the big time, revealed in the July 2013 issue of American Vogue that her 14-month marriage to British lothario Russell Brand had ended on an impersonal note: "Let's just say I haven't heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me on December 31, 2011." That year, Perry criticised a candidate in the Australian general election for his opposition to same-sex marriage. "I love you as a human being but I can't give you my vote," the American citizen who has no voting rights in Australia told Tony Abbott …

Born in Quebec, Canada, Klein's mother, Bonnie Sherr Klein, was a documentary maker whose best known work is an anti-pornography film called Not a Love Story; her father was a physician. Klein, 45, is best known for the books No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. The latter was made into a short film of the same name and released on YouTube. It was produced and co-written by Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón ...