– St. Louis Shakespeare Festival travels across the city, offering free performances.
– “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is being reinvented as a 90s sitcom.
– Engagement with the crowd is a significant factor in performances.
– The show continues until August 27.
A Theatrical Journey Through St. Louis
A comedic field trip is currently taking place around St. Louis, guided by the city’s Shakespeare Festival. This is no ordinary outing, however. This mobile production beautifully reimagines “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” a 500-year-old comedy, into a sitcom straight out of the 90s, and the best part? It’s all for free.
Shakespeare Meets Sitcom
This new iteration of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” adds a modern twist to the classic, exchanging aged Elizabethan dialogue for a snappier, sitcom-esque banter. Yet, it remains firmly rooted in the Bard’s original narrative, encapsulating the various twits and turns of the plot in an engaging and personable manner.
Engaging Audiences Across the City
These performances are not restricted to a single location, but rather, they travel across St. Louis, visiting various parks and engaging audiences city-wide. Each crowd experiences a unique performance, as audience engagement plays a vital role in the development of the show. This variation adds an extra layer of allure to each performance, driving locals and tourists alike to attend multiple shows.
The “tour” will continue through the summer, bringing laughter and lightness to St. Louis until August 27. Remaining dates and locations for the performances can be found on the festival’s official website.
The Breezy Take
The unique approach of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in revamping “The Merry Wives of Windsor” as a 90s sitcom and taking it to different parks around the city adds a breath of fresh air to the classic theater realm. It provides a new perspective on a treasured piece, making it more accessible and engaging for a contemporary audience. As the Bard himself might say, this idea is indeed “such stuff as dreams are made on”! Let’s hope it inspires more creative interpretations in the future.
Original article: https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2023-08-09/to-be-or-not-tv-could-a-shakespeare-comedy-be-the-original-sitcom