Corona Cold Reads: Antony & Cleopatra

\These are crazy times and we’ve all taken on a bunch of new projects as we socially isolate in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19.

We’re donating where we can, we’re cleaning the pantry, we’re organizing the 2300+ title dvd library. We finished work on the Nominee Interview Series even though the live event for our yearly Critics’ Pick Awards had to be cancelled (we’ve still got trophies to give out, eventually). We started the Corona Movie Club to help curb our boredom and constant need to talk about movies with other human beings. I’m even watching network procedurals and actually writing about them.

But what we all really need is comfort. We need our favourite things and our favourite people and right now those are hard to come by so we have to do everything we can to bring them together whenever possible. For me, there’s nothing quite so comforting and joyful as Shakespeare. Luckily, I know a lot of people who also love Shakespeare- a few old friends from my alma mater’s Shakespeare Society and a few of my favourite Toronto theatre artists, all of whom just so happen to be talented and generous and responsibly socially isolated enough to want to join a nearly 3-hour 19-person Zoom call for the purposes of livestreaming Shakespeare on YouTube.

Check out Antony & Cleopatra in audio form below (or on iTunes) then tune into our YouTube page on Friday nights at 7pm EST to catch our live readings.

A huge thank you to the cast of Antony & Cleopatra:

Cleopatra- Gaby Grice
Mark Antony- Christopher Prentice
Octavius Caesar- Nicanor Campos
Charmian- Elizabeth Ramirez
Lepidus/ Thyreus- Miriam B
Pompey- Mo Kamaly
Domitius Enobarbus- Jim Hill
Scarus- Erin Eldershaw
Demetrius/Menecrates/Silius/Eros- Melissa Wright
Menas/Seleucus – Shalyn McFaul
Alexas/Taurus/Diomedes- Nicole Falgoust
Soothsayer/Third Soldier/Third Guard/Gallus- Susan Bond
Iras/Canidius- Fabiana Cabral
Philo/Varrius/Dercetas- Elizabeth Morriss
Mardian/Ventidius- Mark Kreder
Agrippa/ Dolabella- Anne van Leeuwen
Euphronius/Proculeius- Samantha Chappell
Mecaenas- Stephanie Junge-Filipek
Octavia- Olivia Klausen McCargar
Fourth Soldier/Captain/Egyptian/Clown- Haley Dinel
Second Messenger/First Attendant/First Servant/First Soldier/First Guard- Hilary Wartinger
Second Attendant/ First Messenger/Second Servant/Second Soldier/Second Guard- Laura Hubbard