British actors Peter Capaldi, Dominic West, Ruth Wilson and Gemma Arterton are among the thespians starring in short films of every one of Shakespeare's plays produced by the Globe Theatre for the 400th anniversary of his death.

The films will play for free at 37 locations along the banks of the Thames on a 2.5 mile (4km) route between Tower Bridge and Westminster on April 23 and 24.

The shorts include footage shot in the real locations of the plays and viewers will see West as Coriolanus at Ostia Antica, the harbour city of Ancient Rome; Jonathan Pryce as Shylock in the Merchant of Venice at Banco Rosso in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice and David Harewood as Othello in Famagusta in north Cyprus.

The project, entitled The Complete Walk, also filmed at the Red Pyramid in Egypt for Anthony and Cleopatra, the Tomba di Giulietta in Verona for Romeo and Juliet, Glamis Castle in Scotland for Macbeth and the Acropolis in Greece for Timon of Athens.

Other actors starring in the films include Simon Russell Beale, James Norton, Meera Syal, Olivia Williams, Toby Jones and Lindsay Duncan.

Each ten-minute film will also include footage of the BFI's Silent Shakespeare films and newly created animation.

Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe, said the project would give people the opportunity to follow the whole route and watch all the films, or just dip in and out.

He added: "We are not telling people they have to study or take notes, if you want to walk past and go to the next one, you can, it's very free."

He continued: "The films give a flavour of that particular play and give a wonderful overview of the whole of the work."

Every screen will show the same film on a loop between 10am and 10pm on Saturday and 10am and 8pm on Sunday.

The walk will also take place in Liverpool, where the films will be shown in houses, on ferries crossing the Mersey and at sights around the city.

Places the films will be exported to include Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Navarre in Spain, Gdansk in Poland, Neuss in Germany, Carnuntum in Austria, Sibiu in Romania and Taipei in Taiwan.