Is Shakespeare still relevant in the 21st century? It's the kind of question you would expect in an A level English literature exam.

Now experts at Birmingham University are turning their minds to it - and they're getting paid £358,000 for the answer.

The cash is being given by the Arts and Humanities Research Council following a realisation that cultural reference points are changing.

The university's Shakespeare Institute will examine whether the Bard's canon still relates to a world in which international terrorism, mass migration and environmental concerns shape our lives.

Professor Kate McLuskie, director of the Shakespeare Institute, said: "Arts organisations are under considerable pressure to attract new audiences and to widen access to minority groups. We want to understand how different ways of talking about Shakespeare reflect the social values of theatre practitioners and the audiences they wish to attract.

"Is Shakespeare seen as a teacher about the evils of discrimination or the nature of love or tyranny or is he a source of pleasure or a tourist attraction?"

Prof McLuskie claimed new interpretations of Shakespeare were already being seen through the greater variety of mediums available.

"We need to understand these changes and their implications for public policy in arts and education," she added.

Perhaps the most notable attempt to update Shakespeare for a new audience was the 1996 guns and gangs version of Romeo and Juliet staring Hollywood heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio.

Birmingham's poet laureate Richard Grant - aka Dread-lock Alien - believes such novel ways of presenting Shakespeare are needed if young audiences are to be reached.

"I went to see a modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet at Stratford Theatre when I was about ten," he said. "There were motorbikes and leather jackets. That made it alive for me rather than a sterile text-bound reading of it. Young people can feel disenfranchised from Shakespeare. They have to learn words specifically for the text. It is like reading a foreign language."

But the poet believes with a bit of effort the Bard can be made relevant.

"There is a resurgence of oral poetry at the moment which is where Shakespeare came from. There is a lot of that in hip-hop culture. It is about story telling."

There is also another reason for young children from an ethnically diverse city like Birmingham to study Shakespeare, according to Mr Grant.

"Any young person in Birmingham needs to know about Britishness and Shakespeare is an essential part of that," he said. "He is a logo, a brand. It helps understand the history, stories and experiences of this culture." ..SUPL: