As we announced last month, several Cymbeline in the Anthropocene collaborators gave presentations together at a roundtable hosted by the Shakespeare Association of America’s 49th annual conference. The roundtable, titles “Performing Shakespeare in a Time of Ecological Crisis: A Global Roundtable Session,” took place virtually on Friday, April 2nd. Chaired by Robert N. Watson (University of California Los Angeles), the rountable presented short papers by and discussion between Nicolette Bethel (University of the Bahamas), Evelyn O’Malley (University of Exeter), Katie Brokaw (University of California Merced), and Randall Martin (University of New Brunswick). 

Over the last few weeks, the Cymbeline in the Anthropocene blog has been following the newly released video previews of Shakespeare in Yosemite’s film production, Imogen in the Wild. In the first week we reviewed the production’s original music videos, and last week’s selection featured scenes that hint at the character development of one of the play’s villains, Iachimo. This week, in our final installment (for now!), we examine two more scene previews that expose the play’s engagement with contrasting masculinities and the way they relate to the environment.

April was a month of riches for Cymbeline in the Anthropocene! Between the excitement of Rob Conkie’s Melbourne Cymbeline and the Globe 4 Globe symposium last month, Shakespeare in Yosemite released eight video previews of their production, Imogen in the Wild, on Earth Day. Last week, this blog presented the original music videos among these, and today, we feature a group of scene previews featuring Cymbeline’s wiliest villain: Iachimo.

In April, Globe 4 Globe: Shakespeare and Climate Emergency became the first international symposium to address this increasingly pressing topic. Co-organized by Katie Brokaw, Paul Prescott, and the Research Department at Shakespeare’s Globe, the event brought together more than 30 theatre-makers, scholars, and sustainability experts, who presented culturally and theatrically diverse papers on eco-Shakespeare in performance, with a particular emphasis on its relationships with the deepening climate crisis. The breadth of artistic concepts and dramaturgical approaches makes it challenging to summarise the conference’s key takeaways. Nonetheless, three broad themes emerged: relations to place, sustainable practices, and environmental justice.

Cymbeline in the Anthropocene's project leader Randall Martin recently guest starred in Nicole Asquith's podcast In the Weeds, which explores human relationships with the environment through our cultivation of plants. In a month full of Cymbeline happenings, Randall takes a detour through a suspiciously English "Athenian" wood to speak about the forests of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

As promised in their recent production updates, Shakespeare in Yosemite released a number of previews of their Cymbeline adaptation "Imogen in the Wild" on Earth Day. A total of eight videos now available on the Shakespeare in Yosemite Youtube channel offer a vivid look at the adaptation itself, along with its brilliant cast and settings. Today, Cymbeline in the Anthropocene explores the original music videos that underscore this production's ecological themes. 

It is an auspicious coincidence that Earth Day and Shakespeare’s birthday fall back to back on the calendar every April. Today, we arrive at Earth Day 2021 after a tumultuous year, in which Covid-19 and its accompanying political crises have reminded us exactly how interconnected our local environments are with the rest of the globe. 

Cymbeline in the Anthropocene is glad to announce that our collaborators in Melbourne, Australia, begin their performance run of Cymbeline tomorrow! Today, we celebrate this fortune by featuring rehearsal stills taken by photographer Melissa Viola. 

Shakespeare in Yosemite has announced an extended production timeline for their feature film adaptation of Cymbeline, titled Imogen in the Wild. While their original release date was set for April 22nd for Earth Day, the full film will now be released in September 2021, with plenty of additional material set to release gradually beginning on Earth Day. 

Cymbeline in the Anthropocene is excited to announce that many of our collaborators will appear in this month's virtual Globe 4 Globe symposium on April 23rd and 24th. The event is co-hosted by the research department from Shakepeare's Globe in London and the University of California Merced's Katie Brokaw and Paul Prescott--the very same directors of Shakespeare in Yosemite's Imogen in the Wild.