The Book of Will AND The First Folio at Shakespeare North Playhouse Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Dottie Rood
What a joy this whole evening was! Not being a true Shakespeare fan, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this evening spent at The Shakespeare North Playhouse but what an excellent, informative and entertaining evening it was. Starting with the Playhouse right through to The Book of Will performance (with The First Folio exhibition in the middle).
The Shakespeare North Playhouse: This is a medium sized brand new (16 months old) theatre in the heart of Prescot. It is accessible with helpful staff. It has a well-stocked café offering drinks, snacks, light lunches and theatre bites that are reasonable priced. The ‘cockpit’ theatre area is a ‘must see’! You are very close to the stage; this is in the middle of a circular seating area (benches) that raise up at the sides. It reminded me of the type of theatre Shakespeare plays might have been performed in with a real ‘Shakespearian’ feel to it.
The First Folio: 400 years on: This is the Shakespeare Norths first exhibition and was very exciting to see what it contained. The first Folio is a collection of 36 (of the 37 ‘works’ William Shakespeare wrote) printed in a very large, impressive book that was published in 1623 (400 years ago!) 7 years after Shakespeare died. An original copy of The First Folio was on display at the exhibition, curtesy of The British Library, and added real interest and bearing to the exhibition that told us who, why and how this remarkable book was produced.
It was friends and colleagues that collaborated to bring all Shakespeare’s works together in one place, before they were lost forever. John Heminges and Henry Conell (friends of Shakespeare) started the process after they came across very bad copies of Shakespeare plays (after he had died) and they divided them into three categories, COMEDIES, HISTORIES and TRAGEDIES, these classifications are still used today. The exhibition is free and is found in the Exhibition Gallery from Thursday 19th October to Saturday 11th November, it offers ‘hands on’ experiences as well as interesting artifacts.
The Book of Will Performance: Written by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Lotte Wakeman, it tells us the story of how the First Folio came about.
The play starts strongly with Boy Hamlet (played by Terek Slater) ‘performing’ across the stage. Enter Shakespeare’s friends, Henry Condell (played by Niall Costign), John Heminges (played by Russell Richardson) and Richard Burbage (played by Zach Lee) bemoaning the fact that it is not being performed correctly. Alice Hemenges, daughter of John, (played by Jessica Ellis) joins them in ‘an inn’ and what follows are excellent performances by all the actors in the telling of how they saved William Shakespeare’s works from vanishing forever. There are only 10 actors altogether (they play numerous parts between them) so feel I should mention them all. Ralph Crane (played by Tomi OGbaro) is integral to the correct versions of Shakespeare’s plays being written into The First Folio. Ben Jonson (played by Andrew Whitehead) is a larger than life character who was in direct conflict with Shakespeare when he was alive (but who was also a ‘friend’) and was a real joy to watch and made me laugh out loud at some of his scenes. Elizabeth Condell, wife to Henry (played by Carrie Quinlan) and Rebecca Heminges, wife to John (played by Helen Pearson) are very convincing and supportive but ‘strong’ in their own right. Ed Knight (played by Callum Sim) is ‘stage manager’ for the Kings Men (as Shakespeare and his friends were known) and was described as “serious in his own ways”, again he played a supportive and convincing part. As I have mentioned they play a number of parts between them and I enjoyed every single one of them.
The story is told with humour, sadness, inspiration and joy. There were a number of really good quotes throughout the play that help sum up what the story was hoping to portray: “Publish or vanish”, Improbable, yes, but not impossible” and “Not everyone doing good work gets applause”. The ending was also really good as each actor played the part, briefly, of one of Shakespeare’s characters, coming on and off the stage reminding us of what might have been lost forever! Then an uplifting ‘masked’ dance to Young Hearts, ended the whole evening on a high.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from: Pay what you decide/£3 to £35.
The Book of Will is at: Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prospero Place, Prescot. L34 3AB
From: Thursday 19th October to Saturday 11th November 2023.
They offer Relaxed Performances, Audio Described, BSL Interpreted and matinees on a number of days.
For more information or to book tickets visit: https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk
https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/the-book-of-will
Or call: 01514337156