"All the world's a stage": Zoom Shakespeare with The Show Must Go Online

Scurvy Companions

Back in March of 2020, theaters shut down across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than closing up shop, actor Rob Myles formed a Shakespeare reading group over Zoom — a group which quickly transformed into an online theater company, The Show Must Go Online. Since then, TSMGO has performed the entire Shakespeare canon, premiering a new production every week throughout the pandemic. They’ve involved actors and theater makers from across the world, and every performance included guest speakers, with luminaries like Ben Crystal and Simon Russell Beale joining in on the fun. All of the performances are still up on YouTube, and have garnered tens of thousands of views across the globe.

Rob Myles joins us from his home in Glasgow. He is an actor, author, director, stage fighter, and creator of the Shakespeare Deck, which aims to make Shakespeare simple on the go. Today he’ll be joining us to talk about how The Show Must Go Online developed, the process and challenges of creating Zoom theater so quickly and at such a high level, and his views on how we can make Shakespeare and theater in general more inclusive and accessible going forward.

Rob is interviewed by host Emily Jackoway. To learn more about NoSweatShakespeare, check out our site at nosweatshakespeare.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to follow or subscribe and give us a five-star rating. Thanks for listening in!