The Book of Will

by Lauren Gunderson

Directed by Evan Mueller

The King’s Men are getting the band back together. The goal: to gather the Bard’s scattered masterpieces and bind them to each other, and to history. It’s a grand feat, to be sure. Especially for a community of actors who may know all the ins and outs of iambic pentameter, but next to nothing about binding books. Even so, they undertake their mission with pluck and wit and hearts full of joy. It’s a theatrical, beat-the-clock race to save a legacy, offering some of Shakespeare’s greatest hits spoken by your favorite players.

Background

William Shakespeare wrote his plays in pieces, never putting all the parts together until the actors were on stage, for fear of someone stealing his work. But who’s to stop people from stealing it after he dies? This is the conundrum faced by the Bard’s buddies in The Book of Will. When a sub-par Hamlet rip-off hits a stage near the Globe Theatre, members of Shakespeare’s acting troupe, the King’s Men, are incensed. To try to put an end to the plagiarism and save Will’s works for the ages, they hatch a plan to put it all down on paper, setting them off on a mad chase to find all the bits and pieces to create the First Folio. A funny, charming play about the battle to save a legacy, offering up excerpts of some of the Bard’s most beloved writing.