Sitcom-inspired Shakespeare brings its laugh track to 24 St. Louis-area parks

The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival is hitting the road with a production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” that takes inspiration from 1990s-era sitcoms. Running through Aug. 27 and free to the public, the tour is staging the play in 24 parks in the St. Louis region.

Shakespeare is credited for creating many of the tropes that sitcoms mined for laughs, noted Joel Moses, who plays three named characters in the play: “You do see those physical comedy gags,” he told St. Louis on the Air, “the sight gags, the mistaken identity that you do see in a lot of 1990s sitcoms as well.”

Christina Yancy returns this year to the touring Shakespeare production after appearing in 2022’s touring show of “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” which was staged with an Afrofuturist approach.

She said that director Suki Peters worked with the performers to make sure the show stays faithful to Shakespeare’s language and characters, even while it introduces the audience to a contemporary aesthetic — and a laugh track.