A St. Louis sports columnist finds shared goals in Shakespeare and soccer

By Danny Wicentowski

Published September 11, 2023 at 3:45 PM CDT

St. Louis Shakespeare Festival's summer show in Forest Park typically draws about 40,000 people per year. [6/28/20] — The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in Forest Park, where “The Game’s Afoot” will premiere.

A world premiere is hitting town for the 10th anniversary of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s “Shakespeare in the Streets.” Rather than Shakespeare, the bard of this particular play, “The Game’s Afoot,” is St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Benjamin Hochman.

Hochman has spent months interviewing dozens of people in St. Louis’ soccer community, a group that includes amateur players, fans of St. Louis City SC and even World Cup winner Lori Lawson.

“It's the absolute perfect year to do this show,” Hochman said. “I've said this to people before: Even if the soccer team was bad, there would still be excitement because it's new and it's our town's team. But these guys are first place in the Western Conference! They're playing great. So there's so much soccer excitement.”

Though written by Hochman, the play’s characters and dialogue are heavily inspired by Shakespeare’s originals, particularly the “Henriad” series of historical plays that include Henry IV and Henry V.

“There are numerous Shakespearean characters in there,” Hochman noted. “[Prince Hal] of course and some others — [and] Hotspur, who takes a sojourn from St. Louis to play overseas for Tottenham Hotspur.”

“But,” he said, “I think the Falstaff character is perhaps my favorite. [He’s] the combination of my personality and Shakespeare's.”

Related Event
What: “The Game’s Afoot” - Shakespeare in the Streets
When: Sept. 14-16
Where: Olive Boulevard near the intersection with North 22nd Street, in Downtown St. Louis.

To hear more from Benjamin Hochman about his debut as a playwright and what it means to combine St. Louis, soccer and Shakespeare, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or Stitcher or by clicking the play button below.

Benjamin Hochman on "St. Louis in the Streets"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Benjamin Hochman reveals the behind-the-scenes details of "The Game's Afoot."

“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.