Right as I sat down to write this review, I received an email with the subject line “New Book Explores Early Shakespeare Authorship Doubts.” My first thought was, “Jesus, what is it now?”
As a middle-of-the-road Shakespeare fan — read a handful, attended a few shows, butchered the role of Robin Goodfellow in my high school’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream — my interest has never veered into the dude’s personal life.
But Vern Thiessen’s 2011 play Shakespeare’s Will, staged by Quantum Theatre through Sun., Dec. 1, probes the mythology of The Bard from the perspective of his wife, Anne Hathaway, and the results are thought-provoking and gratifying. Where many interpretations and theories about Shakespeare’s life mine artifacts and texts for clues, Thiessen’s work more or less tosses out objectivity, academia, and evidence to create a dramatic and entertaining story. Which is fitting, because, you know, Shakespeare. -Alex Gordon, City Paper
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