Forsooth: COVID-19 brings Shakespeare to Vermont backyards.

[July 16, 2020: Associated Press]

On an idyllic summer evening not far from the shore of Lake Champlain, the immortal words of William Shakespeare float from a lush backyard, professionally performed -- for an audience of six.

Jena Necrason of the Vermont Shakespeare Festival throws herself into the role of Helena in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” lamenting the vagaries of the heart. Her husband John Nagle follows, performing Jaques’ famous soliloquy from “As You Like It”: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.”

Shakespeare came to this audience — a Burlington couple, their son and three of his middle-school aged friends who took a break from bicycling — through a program established after COVID-19 forced the festival to cancel its summer season.....MORE