Patrick Stewart is set to play in two Shakespeare productions this spring for PBS.  He's playing Claudius in Hamlet opposite Dr. Who star David Tennant and then a filmed version of the recent modern-dress broadway rendition of Macbeth.  This version of Macbeth will see the Scottish King exchanged for a modern day dictator.

"Great works of art endure, and the reason it endures is that it seems to have fresh source of meaning for each generation that comes along," says Stewart. "This is my 52nd year of doing this professionally, and all I wanted to do was act in Shakespeare. And for years, that's all I did. Then, other things happened."

One of those things, of course, was the Star Trek: The Next Generation role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, which made him famous -- and which inspires many Trek fans to come see him on stage. "I don't care why people come to the theater," he says. "Just get them in, get their bums in the seats, and leave the rest to us. And we can make darn sure that they come back again and again." (source California Chronicle)

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Image credit Trekcore.com