Review of John Fletcher’s 'The Faithful Shepherdess' (Directed by Lizzie Conrad Hughes for Shake-Scene Shakespeare), Zoom, 26 November 2023

The review describes a production of John Fletcher's 'The Faithful Shepherdess' by Shake-Scene Shakespeare Company performed online on 26 November 2023. In the review, centrality is given to the company's peculiar use of a cue script-based approach to the play which involves an individual learning of the lines on behalf of the players and a challenging absence of group rehearsals preceding the day of the official performance. Shake-Scene productions are in fact explicit attempts at re-applying and reinventing Renaissance modes of acting. To Lizzie Conrad Hughes, Shake-Scene's artistic director, such an approach may prove a valuable tool to shed new light on what was already thought to be known when it comes to staging a play. The choice of the technique, coupled with the demands of a Zoom online performance, led to a thought-provoking and unexpected adaptation of the play by Fletcher. Through the revitalising of what the company once called ‘the original practice’, The Faithful Shepherdess came as a surprise, not only for the audience, but for the players themselves.