LONDON.- We’re used to seeing him performing on the stage but now Simon Callow lends his voice to the British Library’s statue of William Shakespeare for Talking Statues, the public art project which has animated statues across London and Manchester.

Simon Callow has animated one of three winning monologues for Give A Statue a Voice, the public writing competition, sponsored by Audible.co.uk. Winners were chosen by an expert panel from over 500 submissions. The criteria? Under 400 words and entertaining!

Ed Wiles a budding screenwriter from London has written the winning piece for Shakespeare at the British Library. “It was quite a challenge giving words to our greatest writer.

Nick Marston at Curtis Brown, leading writing agency says: “We received an extraordinary high level of entries – we think the winning pieces show exceptional ability!”

Other competition statues were ‘The Leaping Hare’ in London and ‘T-Rex’ in Manchester Museum. Existing Talking Statues around the UK, which include Eduardo Paolozzi’s Newton sculpture on the Library’s piazza, are now also joined by Achilles in Hyde Park, voiced by Dominic West, and Adrian Lester as a sulky youth in Canary Wharf’s Two Men on a Bench.

Actor Dominic West says: “I think it is a brilliant idea. You tend to walk past these statues without a second glance. It’s intriguing to imagine the life behind them.”

Since the project launched in August over 30,000 people have received calls from statues across London and Manchester. Talking Statues is the creation of Sing London, the non-profit arts organisation whose projects aim to lift the public’s spirit. Previous projects include filling London with street pianos and Ping!, the public ping pong project that has placed over 1000 ping pong tables across England.

Colette Hiller, Creative Director of Sing London says: “It’s marvellous how the project has caught the public’s attention right across the world. We feel privileged to have such a stellar line-up of writers and actors.”