The artistic director of a major American Shakespeare festival has been left with a whole new appreciation of the Bard after a first visit to Stratford. Tom Ridgley has been director of the St Louis Shakespeare Festival since 2018, the latest role in a working life that has centred around acting and the arts. Tom said that the St Louis Shakespeare Festival was best known for a big, outdoor summer Shakespeare production with audiences of up to 6,000. His visit to Stratford took in back stage tour of the RST and to Shakespeare’s tomb at Holy Trinity Church. I feel like I’ve got a whole new appreciation even just for his plays and the way he wrote from having now been to Stratford.”