Dickson, Andrew. The Globe Guide to Shakespeare: The Plays, the Productions, the Life. Pegasus. Sept. 2016. 700p. notes. index. ISBN 9781681772608. pap. $29.95; ebk. ISBN 9781681772646. LIT
The activities of this year’s 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death make us especially aware of the playwright’s huge cultural impact. Dickson’s (Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe) intention in writing this book is to “cut a path through the jungle” to each play, the major poetry, central critical works, the best editions, as well as to provide concise treatment of the chief biographical and historical questions. He has succeeded beautifully. For each play the book includes, in separate sections: an act-by-act synopsis; a brief entry on the probable date of composition, sources, and textual history; a well-written, unbiased interpretive essay, identifying themes and background; a worldwide stage history of pivotal productions on stage and screen; an annotated list of the best available screen and audio adaptations, showing lead cast, production company, and date; and the best available edition. Shakespeare’s major poems, often given short shrift, are treated in the same manner as the plays. Short topical essays on the Bard’s life and time round out the volume, including: essays on early modern English, the canon, stagecraft, and sources for kids. VERDICT This reviewer can’t imagine a better source to recommend to students. Playgoers needing a reference guide before and/or after going to the theater will be delighted.
Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare on Page and Stage: Selected Essays. Oxford Univ. Nov. 2016. 300p. ed. by Paul Edmonson. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780198786542. $29.95. LIT
Wells (coeditor, The Oxford Shakespeare; Shakespeare, Sex, and Love) is one of today’s preeminent editors and critics of William Shakespeare. His deep knowledge of the Bard and of Shakespearean criticism is reflected in this collection of speeches and articles spanning the last several decades. It has the feel of a miscellaneous collection, gathering writings and talks that didn’t fit into Wells’s other books. Still, it is a fascinating read, offering new insights into many of Shakespeare’s characters and plays. Wells tackles a variety of topics, including the amusing speech of the nurse in Romeo and Juliet; the debate over the autobiographical content in the sonnets; and the practice, during Shakespeare’s time, of using male actors in even the most complex roles written for female characters. Wells often focuses on the performance of the plays, citing prominent historical productions and tracing the development of the way Shakespeare has been presented on the stage. The most interesting essays discuss Wells’s work editing Shakespeare’s plays, a complex process that is always open to interpretation. VERDICT Recommended primarily for Shakespeare enthusiasts, though actors and directors working on the plays will also enjoy Wells’s insights into various productions.
Wilson-Lee, Edward. Shakespeare in Swahililand: In Search of a Global Poet. Farrar. Sept. 2016. 304p. photos. maps. notes. index. ISBN 9780374262075. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780374714444. LIT
Wilson-Lee (English, Cambridge Univ.) rejects the view that Shakespeare represents British imperialism. Part travelog, part meditation on Shakespeare’s role in East Africa (“Swahililand”), his book explores diverse ways in which Shakespeare has been adapted to situations and needs of countries in this region. Julius Kambarage Nyerere, first president of Tanzania, translated The Merchant of Venice as a vehicle to foster his anticapitalist agenda. George Mungai staged the play in Nairobi, Kenya, with Gikuyu businessmen. Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin produced Othello in Ethiopia because he thought it mirrored his country’s condition. On South Africa’s Robben Island in the late 1970s, Nelson Mandela and 33 other political prisoners marked their favorite passages in a volume of Shakespeare that has become known as the “Robben Island Bible.” For the imprisoned men these lines expressed their political struggle. To mark South Sudanese independence from Sudan, actors from that fledgling country performed Cymbeline at the Globe in London in 2012 because the play recounts a successful rebellion against a dominant overlord. VERDICT This readable account shows that Shakespeare is universal because his work can be read in all types of environments, reflecting eternal truths and current conditions worldwide.—Joseph Rosenblum, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro
