Grab a seat as Marcia Williams wields her popular comic-book style to bring AS YOU LIKE IT, KING LEAR, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, TWELFTH NIGHT, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, and RICHARD III vividly to life while evoking the mood, mischief, and manners of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Elizabethan theater. As in her previous volume TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE, Williams blends her own storytelling skill with Shakespeare's rich dialogue to make these masterpieces accessible to even the most reluctant reader. Bravo!
Anonymous
Posted July 7, 2008
This delightful book tells the stories of seven different plays in comic strip style, and is great fun to read. In the main section of the pages you see the actors uttering bits of the bard¿s text with summery notes beneath them, but framing the story are lots of audience members, animals, musicians, and who knows what else, all commenting on the play, or adding to it in their own way. In many of the plays the mood is indicated by color scheme, for instance, Richard III is all black, white and grey, and King Lear is all grays and browns, whereas Much Ado suggests its comic nature with bright, playful colors. The book shows wit in its telling and a great deal of insight into the plays, often implemented by the audience members around the margins of the page. In the Merchant of Venice, for instance they ask pointed questions, make the connections between the action and the music (indicated by characters playing lutes) and bring out the characteristics of problem comedy.
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Overview
Grab a seat as Marcia Williams wields her popular comic-book style to bring AS YOU LIKE IT, KING LEAR, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, TWELFTH NIGHT, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, and RICHARD III vividly to life while evoking the mood, mischief, and manners of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century ...