Bard street names
Shakespearean Stratford’s streets by any other name
When tourists come and see the names of the streets they rave about it. Gloria Webby
Romeo Place and Juliet Park:
Lady MacBeth Court:
Typical Kiwi street names invoke royalty – Georges, Victorias, Kings and Queens – or local families and whanau. But not in Stratford – not when you share your name with the birthplace of the Bard.
All 67 streets of the central Taranaki town have names derived from Shakespearean plays and characters. The supermarket is on Juliet St and the council office is on Portia St. And so, with a brand new subdivision popping up, the town’s holding a competition to name four new Bard-based streets.
Gloria Webby, a Shakespeare enthusiast and a member of the Stratford District Council, said the theme dated back to the town’s foundation in 1877.
‘‘The names are wonderful, I mean, look at them! Cordelia, Lear, we’ve got so many wonderful names,’’ Webby said.
And she says there’s method in being the only one of at least seven Stratfords in the world to have named all its streets after the famous playwright.
‘‘When tourists come and see the names of the streets they rave about it and say what a wonderful idea.’’
Webby doesn’t think those entering the street-naming competition will be short of inspiration.
‘‘It doesn’t have to be the name of a person in one of his plays, it can be an association, and of course, Shakespeare was associated with so many people during his career as an actor and a playwright.’’
There’s no rules about what names could be chosen, but Webby balked at the idea of some of the stranger characters.
‘‘We wouldn’t call it Bottom Lane would we? But everyone knows about Bottom in a Midsummer Night’s Dream.’’
Stratford’s Shakespearean flavour goes well beyond its street names.
It has a clock tower which houses Romeo and Juliet figurines that pop out to perform the balcony scene four times a day and even the public toilets are mock Tudor with signs warning of video cameras proclaiming:
‘‘Smile, thou art on camera’’.
Richard III Lane:
Hamlet Avenue:
Weird Sisters Way (Alternative route to Macbeth’s blasted heath):
Yorick Terrace: