The Internet’s a Stage During COVID-19

Perhaps you’ve decided that as long as you’re inside during the quarantine, you might as well explore the poems and plays of William Shakespeare.

One way to approach such a project is to watch the videos being posted online by some of our beloved local theater groups and by some of the world’s most famous Shakespeare theater companies, most of it available for free.

Here in the Tri-state region, we are proud to have Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Mass. Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer and author/company member Bella Merlin are posting videos at the company’s Facebook page in which they talk about their new book, “Shakespeare & Company: When Action Is Eloquence.” 

The book describes the history of the company (founded in 1978) and  explores essential questions about Shakespeare and his relevance to the modern world and about best practices in performing Shakespeare onstage. 

There are also video interviews about Shakespeare plays  and other productions, with actors, directors and more on the company’s website at www.shakespeare.org.

The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck in New York is offering weekly sips of Shakespeare.  Artistic Director Kevin Archambault said, “We have been putting out new Shakespeare productions every week; check our website at www.centerforperformingarts.org. We also have a Zoom group on Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. where we read/act a Shakespeare show live. Reach out to us via Facebook for an invite.” 

Since we’re all living online anyway, there is no reason not to tap into the world’s best Shakespeare resources, beginning (obviously) with the Globe Theatre (now known as Shakespeare’s Globe), which was the Bard’s home base, so to speak.

There are many options for watching Shakespeare plays live at the website www.shakespearesglobe.com; when you get to the home page, click on “watch” to see your options. 

I particularly enjoyed the Love In Isolation videos — especially the one where actor Stephen Fry reads Sonnet 29 in a way that helps you finally understand what it’s about and why everyone loves it so much. Fry by the way is author of a wonderful guide to poetry, “The Ode Less Travelled.”

Back on this side of the pond, there is a treasure trove of free Shakespeare available from the Folger Shakespeare Library, at www.shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works. 

You can read all the plays and poems and there are audio recordings — available online until July 1 — of most of the best-loved plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Othello,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Macbeth” and “Hamlet.”

New York City’s Public Theater created a Brave New Shakespeare Challenge online at www.publictheater.org/news-items/buckets/Features/brave-new-shakespeare-...

One of the highlights is hearing author/singer/rascal Steve Earle reincarnate Sonnet 29 as a blues song, in Week One of the challenge. 

North of us, in Ontario, Canada, is one of the world’s premier Shakespeare festivals, at the Stratford theater. Productions posted online include “Macbeth” (available until May 21),  “The Tempest” (May 14 to June 4), a modern interpretation of “Coriolanus” (until May 21) and more. Go to www.stratfordfestival.ca.

Most of these sites also offer helpful scholarly guides to Shakespeare’s work.