Art director of Beijing Fringe Festival dresses an Elizabethan costume at the press conference held on June 15, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 8th Beijing Fringe Festival, which features 12 Shakespeare dramas and various competitions and exhibitions, is expected to kick off this September.

As introduced by Meng Jinghui - art director of the festival, the 12 plays, among which are Hamlet, King Lear, and As You Like It, were produced to pay tribute to William Shakespeare to mark his 400th year anniversary.

Several young Chinese drama directors will grace the festival with their Shakespeare productions, such as Chinese mainland director Li Ning and Hong Kong director Junda Huang, who will bring Othello and Kiss respectively to the festival. The latter is a novel adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

As reported, this year's festival has a special feature, where innovative drama presentations will be staged. The other two highlights of the festival are an art installation of the stage scenes, and a cartoon exhibition featuring works by young artists Mao Bing and Li Ang.

The 12 plays will be on show at Fengchao Theatre, the small theatre in National Theatre of China, Juying Theatre, 9 Theatre and Tianqiao Theatre.

Activities include performances, exhibitions, cartoon shows and readings .