The Book of Will
Shakespeare North Playhouse
As part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, Shakespeare North Playhouse are staging Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will.
Telling the tale of how the First Folio came to be, and how so many of Shakespeare’s plays only survive due to the efforts of those who knew him best, The Book of Will is a fantastic co-production with Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Octagon Theatre Bolton.
The Book of Will takes the audience on the journey of The King’s Men and their realisation that as each of them dies so to do the real words of Shakespeare, and with each passing the mis-remembered words and modified versions become the truth. As each version moves further away from how Shakespeare would have intended, The King’s Men decide to gather The Bard’s works in order to publish them in a folio. There’s just one problem; the majority of the works haven’t been written down. Those that are written down largely exist as individual scripts for actors and cover purely their lines and cues. The King’s Men must band together to try and find complete works that they can publish.
The play is a great combination of hard-hitting drama in which grief is a constant theme, coupled with recurring jokes predominantly about the inclusion of Pericles. The show ends with a mix-tape style reading of some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines which are performed in varying costumes reflective of different eras and famous performances to truly show the longevity of Shakespeare. At the conclusion of this mix-tape style delivery, quotes from some of Shakespeare’s works fall from the ceiling like confetti and create a truly magical ending.
We really loved this production.
The set is very simple for Act I, consisting of a wooden table and benches. These are moved around to create both the local pub and the homes of the King’s Men. During Act II, the stage is converted into the printing press. Strings holding the printed pages of the folio are hoisted up and completely transform the space so that you really feel like you are in the room where the printing is taking place. The sets are used to maximum effect and really enhance the script. We particularly enjoyed how empty the stage was during the moments following the death of Rebecca Heminges (Helen Pearson). The emptiness really emphasized what John Heminges (Russell Richardson) was going through.
The cast of The Book of Will are outstanding and worked together as an ensemble brilliantly.
Jessica Ellis as Alice Heminges / Susannah Shakespeare and Helen Pearson as Rebecca Heminges / Anne Hathaway are probably best known for their roles in Hollyoaks. As soap stars there’s often a perception that they are in some way second-class actors, but they absolutely shone alongside Russell Richardson as John Heminges. They were completely believable as a family unit, with the end of Act I / start of Act II truly highlighting their skills and bond.
Andrew Whitehead as Ben Jonson was another stand out performer. His delivery of a drunken, tortured poet was perfect. We also enjoyed Tomi Ogbaro’s performance. We’ve previously seen him in Alice in Wonderland at the Liverpool Playhouse. The character and nature of The Book of Will are completely different to the roles he played in Alice in Wonderland and showed what a truly versatile actor he is.
In the programme, there is a Q&A with Lauren Gunderson in which she says the thing she’d like the audience to take away is “that we accomplish nothing truly meaningful on our own”. Whilst Gunderson is talking about the First Folio as a whole, the quote could easily be a reference to the entire cast of this production, as this really is a piece of theatre that relies on the individual performances coming together, which they more than did.
This is a piece which will make you laugh, cry, and generally be in awe of the determination of a group of friends to preserve a legacy. A fantastic piece, and one that we could happily watch again and again.
The show is on at Shakespeare North Playhouse until 11 November 2023. Tickets start at just £3 per person as part of Shakespeare North’s Pay What You Decide scheme. This production can be combined with a visit to see a copy of the First Folio as part of the celebrations currently underway at Shakespeare North Playhouse.
Cover image by Here For This featuring the Shakespeare North Programme which contains a photograph by Pamela Raith.
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