Sunday, April 06, 2014

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope


When I saw a book titled, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, I knew I had to have it. William Shakespeare's Star Wars was everything I expected it to be. I already knew the story, as most people who pick up this book would. As each scene came up I eagerly anticipated the Shakespeare-ization. Re-writing Star Wars in iambic pentameter doesn't make it "literature", but it does make it thoroughly entertaining. It could not have been an easy task for Ian Doescher.

One thing I didn't expect was R2D2. He is hilarious. I loved his insights. It was the most original thing Doescher could do with the task he had given himself. I also quite enjoyed the stage directions. They really seemed as though the author (or translator?) was imagining what a director would be doing with this story and a stage. I feel like this little book is ready to go if anyone wanted to put on a Star Wars stage production. 

There really isn't anything I can say about the story. It's Episode 4 as you would expect it to be.  It starts off with Leia. Then Luke. Then Han and Chewbacca. Obi-Wan does his thing. Luke uses The Force.  The Death Star blows up. Also, the Droids are being quite funny the whole time.  Though not necessarily for fans of Shakespeare, fans of Star Wars will enjoy this play. Those who are also fans of Shakespeare might like it even more.

I didn't even mention the illustrations!

3 comments:

  1. Totally weird idea... but I can see that it would really work. Next stop the stage I bet....

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    1. I would pay to see a stage production. I think it would be hilarious.

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    2. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't already being discussed somewhere.

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