By james art A 400-year-old spirit makes its presence felt. However, this voice from a long-gone past is no Halloween haunt. It just never went away.
Still, the ghost of William Shakespeare, who died in 1616, seems to be having a particularly good time right now: In Washington, D.C., the Folger Shakespeare Library reopened over the summer — and a new Shakespeare museum will open in London in 2025. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke announced a U.K. stage mash-up of “Hamlet” and his band’s 2003 album “Hail to the Thief,” and Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will perform “Othello” on Broadway. Oscar winner Chloé Zhao is directing the screen version of “Hamnet,” Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 thriller about the death of Shakespeare’s son, which is slated for release next year.
So is this a particularly fertile time for Shakespearean antics? We’ve contacted the Folger Shakespeare Library for information.
“Shakespeare’s works resonate across the ages because they explore the complexities of human nature, emotion and society through timeless reflections that continue to influence literature, art and culture today,” said Kathryn Haroff, the Folger’s director of engagement, in an email.
Even the Bard’s artistic contemporary (and sometimes co-author?), playwright Christopher Marlowe, is having a moment with “Lightborne,” Hesse Phillips’ novel about the final, intrigue-filled weeks of Marlowe’s life, which hits stores this week. (And we’ll feature Phillips in an upcoming Q&A.)
Although works inspired by Shakespeare are always coming out, many books – novels, romances, crime, historical and non-fiction – are hitting the shelves now. (How much? I was literally offered a new book while writing this paragraph.)
You can certainly pull out the collected plays or practice reciting the sonnets; stream plays from Kanopy, Globe or Digital Theatre; or watch film and TV adaptations like the star-studded The Hollow Crown. You could attend an upcoming local production at the Madnani Theatre, Largo, Long Beach Playhouse, or even a free director-less performance of The Comedy of Errors presented in the back of a bar. (Not to mention a plan for future productions in Temecula, San Diego, San Bernardino, Long Beach, Griffith Park, Topanga, the Los Angeles Shakespeare Center—which is under construction—and many more.)
(Drew Lichtensberg’s recent New York Times op-ed on the state of Shakespeare production, along with James Shapiro’s Shakespeare in a Divided America, also provide valuable insight into how the political landscape also affects our understanding and support of the plays.)
But for now, let’s just look at 10 recent books:
“All Our Yesterdays” by Joel H. Morris (GP Putnam’s Sons)
This debut novel is an origin story for Lady Macbeth and has been praised by novelist Karen Joy Fowler, author and translator Jennifer Croft, and novelist Liz Michalski, who calls it “sharp and cutting like an obsidian dagger,” which might be the coolest way to describe everything (so please feel free to start referring to Book Pages that way from now on).
“Henry V: The Amazing Triumph of England’s Greatest Warrior King” by Dan Jones (Viking)
In this work of non-fiction, historian, novelist and TV presenter Jones confronts the historical Henry whom Shakespeare graced with the immortal Band of Brothers speech in his play. In a recent New York Times book review, “Will in the World” author Steven Greenblatt wrote that Jones’ work reveals that, unlike the play’s king, the real Henry was a “monster” who had prisoners slaughtered after the battle of Agincourt.
“Marriage and Fats” by Nisha Sharma (Avon)
Okay, who’s in the mood for some palate-cleansing romance after that last rant? In the final volume of her If Shakespeare Were an Aunt series, Sharma creates a clever romance between friends and lovers based on Twelfth Night that involves a shipwrecked yacht, a drunken night, and a pretend—or was it real? – marriage.
“Much Ado About Numbers: The Mathematical Life and Times of Shakespeare” by Rob Eastaway (The Experiment)
Did I say there will be no math? Well, it would be a shame to miss this fun look at what really matters in tragedies, comedies, and stories. Eastaway, author and director of a British group that works with teenagers called Maths Inspiration, reveals that he first came up with the idea for the book as a joke – and then discovered that it had actual merit. There’s a lot of history, science, language, and, yes, numbers here, such as Othello’s clever reference to a week as “Eight point 8 hours,” which, it turns out, is exactly how long a week is.
“Practice” by Rosalind Brown (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)
This debut novel tells the story of a college student who is stuck in her room while working on an essay on Shakespeare’s sonnets. Brown—whose dissertation was on the topic of discipline—takes the reader on a journey through the uncontrolled thoughts, imagination, and fantasy of someone who is pushing a deadline, a fascinating subject to write about if I ever get around to it.
The Princes in the Tower by Philippa Langley (Simon & Schuster)
Langley is probably best known for her role in discovering the real-life grave of Richard III. In this (very) cold type of investigation, which stems from a project called The Missing Princes Project, she aims to learn the fate of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, Richard’s two young nephews, long believed to be were killed in the Tower of London.
“Queen Macbeth” by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
The prolific Scottish crime writer seeks to clear up misunderstandings about the historical Lady Macbeth – whose real name is Gruoch. The author reimagines the character and has her running from pursuers in a novella called by a reviewer “Thelma and Louise with Crossbows.” (Again, feel free to apply this description to this newsletter as well.)
“Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent” by Dame Judi Dench with Brendan Hea (St. Martin’s Press)
In this book of interviews with the acclaimed Dench about the many roles she has played, theater director Hea initially thought he would collect stories for an archive, but as he went along he realized that Dench was not only an astute expert on Shakespearean performance, but also a photographic memory of lines, costumes, and more, she’s great, too: He describes her constantly wandering around—creating fake teeth out of orange peel or stuffing her mouth with popcorn—and dropping the occasional F-bomb. (No, not “curse.”)
“She’s talking! What Women Might Have Said to Shakespeare” by Harriet Walter (Union Square)
This is the book I learned about while writing the introduction. Walter, who appeared in Legacy, Silo, Ted Lasso and the wonderful 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, has previously written books on acting and Shakespeare. Here she offers thoughts and anecdotes about the performance of certain roles, gives insight into the plays and writes her own monologues in the voice of various female characters.
“The Unsuitable for Margaret Wolfe” by Issa Arsen (GP Putnam’s Sons)
Set in the mid-1950s, this novel, which is scheduled to be published in January 2025, tells the story of two Shakespearean actors, one of whom has a recent breakdown after performing in Macbeth, who head to New Mexico leave for a production of Titus Andronicus and find themselves immersed in romantic and sexual complications.
So it’s a 10 out of 10 – and you can tell people that’s how you’d rate this newsletter – but I imagine more books have been published while I’ve been writing this.
If you are intrigued by the idea of reading books like these, the Folger Library
Haroff said they would be reading one of Sharma’s books and invited everyone to join.
“Our Folger Book Club is excited to examine these enduring influences through new literature and community discussions. We’re reading Nisha Sharma’s Meet Dr. Dill in November and would love to see more Californians join us for the online discussion,” Haroff said.