By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - London's Globe Theater on Friday invited all the world on stage to celebrate William Shakespeare's birthday.

"I'm sure he is here in spirit"

Britons are often put off after being force-fed a diet of Shakespearean tragedies at school and Rylance said: "We are very keen here to try and help teachers and young people see Shakespeare on the stage rather than on the page.

"Unfortunately most kids meet Shakespeare around the exam period of the year so they are already tense and it leaves them with a memory of him as a fierce exam question."

The new Globe, on the banks of the River Thames, was the brainchild of the late U.S. actor-director Sam Wanamaker and has proved a roaring success over the last nine years, playing near to capacity every season from May to September, despite not receiving any state subsidy.

"It is very nice to know we live honestly off our box office," Rylance said. "We have the cheapest prices of any theater in England, if not Europe with 600 people only paying five pounds. Our top price is 29 pounds."

Rylance has always encouraged audience participation, especially from the "groundlings" who stand out in the open around the stage and have no hesitation in saying what they think of the production.