In Fall 2020, the English Senior Capstone course at UC Merced, led by Dr. Katherine Steele Brokaw, spent the semester researching Shakespeare and Ecology. Students read the work of several ecocritics and environmental activists, as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, and Cymbeline. The students developed their own research projects, and also did collaborative research projects related to an eco-adaptation of Cymbeline, in anticipation of Shakespeare in Yosemite’s Spring 2021 production of the play.

Episode five of Merced Shakespearefest's Ricardo II: A Bilingual Adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard II is titled "Hombres de Guerra / Men of War," but the standout character in this installment of the play is Queen Isabella. 

With the new year underway, many of our collaborating theatre companies have begun rehearsing Cymbeline—if perhaps under more unusual circumstances than usual. As the covid-19 crisis continues to change how theatre makers are able to share their craft, many of our Cymbeline in the Anthropocene collaborators are adapting new ways to reach their audiences.

In episode 4, "Arrendador de Inglaterra / Landlord of England," the king and his entourage travel to visit John of Gaunt, who grieves his banished son from a sick bed. When the king arrives only to mock John's illness, what follows is a witty but ominous repartee.