The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival is hitting the road with a production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” that takes inspiration from 1990s-era sitcoms. Running through Aug. 27 and free to the public, the tour is staging the play in 24 parks in the St. Louis region.
Shakespeare is credited for creating many of the tropes that sitcoms mined for laughs, noted Joel Moses, who plays three named characters in the play: “You do see those physical comedy gags,” he told St. Louis on the Air, “the sight gags, the mistaken identity that you do see in a lot of 1990s sitcoms as well.”
Christina Yancy returns this year to the touring Shakespeare production after appearing in 2022’s touring show of “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” which was staged with an Afrofuturist approach.
She said that director Suki Peters worked with the performers to make sure the show stays faithful to Shakespeare’s language and characters, even while it introduces the audience to a contemporary aesthetic — and a laugh track.
“Both directors of both of those shows … they really wanted us to lean into those aspects, of heart, and love, and the themes at the core of what Shakespeare was writing,” she said. “We never wanted again to lose the meaning of what Shakespeare's words were. So even coming from a different style, the language, the way we're acting it, at least for me as an actress, it's still very similar.”
Related Event
What: "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
When: Aug. 1-27
Where: 24 parks in the St. Louis region. See full schedule for details.
To hear more from Christina Yancy and Joel Moses, including a performance of a scene from “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
