REVIEW | The Book of Will, Shakespeare North Playhouse

Reviews

21 Oct

Written by Aimee

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

Last night I took a journey out to the Shakespeare North Playhouse to see the European premiere of The Book of Will. The story follows two of Shakespeare’s friends John Heminge and Henry Condell, who after seeing too many fake versions of Shakespeare’s plays attempt to gather all his original plays and publish them in a book known as a folio. A folio is essentially a big book, and in this case, it was the first folio published that solely contained plays. In total 36 of the estimated 37 plays Shakespeare wrote are in this book, and it is thanks to their efforts that these plays survived. Without it, we wouldn’t know plays such as Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (to name a few). It is a joyous play, a celebration of friendship, love and loss, the importance of theatre, and an ode to one of England’s greatest playwriters.

The cast is composed of 10 performers, led by the wonderful Niall Costigan (Henry Condell) and Russell Richardson (John Heminges), who both equally do a brilliant job at conveying how much this folio means to the characters and the legacy of Shakespeare which it created. Each member of this cast brings something special to their characters, whether the humour of Ben Jonson (played by Andrew Whitehead) or the caring and loving nature of the wives of Heminges and Condell (played by Helen Pearson and Carrie Quinlan).

The book written by Lauren Gunderson does an amazing job at keeping the audience engaged. Going into it we as an audience know that they do end up producing this folio and it all works out in the end, however the journey they took to get to that point is what keeps you gripped. It is littered with emotional surprises from as early as the second scene and they carry on throughout. The language used is easy to understand and follow making the show appealing to a wide range of audiences. You don’t have to know a lot about Shakespeare to understand what’s going on, and equally, this is a show children could come to and enjoy as well as adults.

Carla Goodman is the designer for this production and she has done a great job of using a minimal but effective set. Really all the set contains is two tables, a few chairs and benches, the occasional flower and of course eventually Shakespeare’s scripts. The stage does start to feel somewhat empty at points because the set is so simple but it still works for the purpose of the show. Her costume design is lovely and encapsulates exactly what you would expect people of that time to be wearing.

Overall this a brilliant production of play that at the end of the day, is all about the meaning of legacy and the impact theatre can have on the lives of people.

The Book of Will runs at the Shakespeare North Playhouse until Saturday 11th November, accompanied by an exhibition in the venue of one of the first Shakespeare folios ever printed.