Cymbeline and Quarantine

March 2020

About 3 weeks into our 10-week run, St. Louis announced restrictions on public gatherings in light of the Covid19 epidemic. The measures would go into effect on Monday March 16th.

So on Sunday March 15th, we scrambled together in a film studio and rehearsed some new blocking that took account of the CDC guidelines, put on the microphones available (we had to resort to a Brittney Spears mic for me 😅), and recorded the performance we had prepared for the tour.

A while later, while we were still mourning the loss of our sweet show, an article in the Wall Street Journal showed up.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cymbeline-review-resolving-a-problem-play-11588881638

Terry Teachout, WSJ's finest theatre reviewer, had watched and appreciated our play:

"I decided to take a look at SFSTL’s “Cymbeline,” and I loved what I saw. This is American-style Shakespearean acting, cheerfully colloquial rather than resonantly poetic, with Hannah Geisz and Mary Heyl especially likable as Innogen, the king’s daughter, and Posthumus, the unhappy lover. Mr. Ridgely’s uncomplicated staging and cut-to-the-chase adaptation of the text frame the play so lucidly that even the newest of Shakespeare novices will have no trouble orienting themselves amid its myriad complexities."

🤩

The entire article has much more to say, and reading it made me appreciate even more the excellence I was getting to be a part of. I doubt our production would have been on Teachout's radar if not for effects the pandemic has had on theatre around the country. What an encouragement, to have our efforts acknowledged by such a respected source!