In this 2020 Shakespeare lecture presented to McGill University’s Friends of the Library in partnership with the Stratford Festival, Antoni Cimolino argues that performing and responding to Shakespeare strengthens our existential resilience and empathy in the face of pandemic, climate-change, and political uncertainties.

"We live in a King Lear universe" of powerlessness and randomness, observes Cimolino, who is the Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival. But watching, hearing, and making meaning from Shakespeare’s plays "redeems us from annihilation."