LONDON: Popular Pakistani TV star Nadia Jamil is to act as Katherine in the Urdu version of William Shakespeare's play “The Taming of the Shrew” as a part of multi-lingual Shakespeare festival in the run-up to the next year's London Olympics, organisers announced Friday.

Over the course of six weeks, beginning on Shakespeare's birthday, 23 April 2012, the Shakespeare Theatre Globe will host a kaleidoscope of 38 international theatre companies, from some of the most respected to some of the newest, to present every one of Shakespeare's 38 plays in a different language.

These include Lithuanian, Greek, Urdu, Aboriginal languages, Maori, Shona, Turkish, Spanish, Mandarin, Portuguese, Italian, Cantonese, Arabic, and in British Sign Language.

Within the season, Shakespeare's Globe will stage one production, with the remaining 37 plays presented by theatre companies from around the world.

The organisers described the project as the most ambitious multilingual Shakespeare project ever attempted, building on a long tradition of international Shakespeare productions in London.

It will also celebrate the vast array of ethnic communities and languages that make up the British capital's vibrant multi-cultural landscape.