“To be, or not to be, Aye, there’s the point.
To Die, to fleepe, is that all?”
This soliloquy — resembling William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” yet not exactly “Hamlet” — opens Lauren Gunderson’s endearing play, “The Book of Will,” on stage now at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.
As per tradition, the festival features a pair from the Bard’s catalog (this year, they are “The Comedy of Errors” and “The Tempest”) and something Shakespeare-related.
Gunderson’s “Book of Will” (2017) is an extrapolation of real events leading to the posthumous publication of Shakespeare’s “First Folio.” His friends and actors Henry Condell, John Heminges and Richard Burbage come up with the idea, noting the proliferation of “bad quartos,” unauthorized, dodgy versions of Shakespeare’s plays like the one at the top of this story.
Condell’s wife, Elizabeth, and Heminges’ wife and daughter Alice and Rebecca figure prominently in the project. As do several figures in the publishing industry who reveal themselves to be fans of Shakespeare along the way.
Director Lori Adams was drawn to the script, the characters, and eventually, to the group of actors cast to play them.
“I remember reading it the first time and thinking, this is just the most beautiful play,” Adams said. “We’re taken on this journey. You have a love story; you have friendship; you have a legacy; you have a suspenseful drama going on; you have sorrow; you have joy. That’s what drew me to it; all those things.”
It is not hyperbole to use “The Book of Will” to entertain the thought of a world without Shakespeare. Had that group of friends not had the foresight to gather and publish the First Folio — not an easy task, as the play illustrates — the world today might not have Shakespeare at all, never mind a Shakespeare Festival in nearly every major city in the country (and some not-as-major ones, like ours).
“At least half of the plays would have been lost if this hadn’t happened,” Adams said. “Imagine the world without ‘Hamlet,’ or ‘As You Like It,’ or ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Can you imagine?”
Of course, that begs the question: What about those playwrights who may have been as prolific and talented as Shakespeare, but whose friends didn't the foresight to write it all down.
This is especially true of women and playwrights of color. As a 2018 study by American Theatre points out, men and women are produced at a nearly 1:1 rate over the past decade. But when it comes to the classical canon (pre-1968 by their definition), men are still produced 88% of the time. Were women not writing plays before 1968? Doubtful.
“I’m sure things are lost,” said Adams. And despite the positive trends in gender parity today, she worries the theatrical geniuses lying in our wake will not be remembered, because no one is writing it down.
“People learned history through letters and plays. They had them in their hands,” she said. “So, you wonder, do we ever preserve everything we should?”
Indeed, “The Book of Will” is not an exact replica of what Shakespeare’s friends said — no one can know that. But through intense research, Gunderson surely created a faithful interpretation of what they did.
In a prophetic line, Henry Condell speaks to the importance of preserving Shakespeare’s work, so that other actors might perform the roles they originated even better in the future.
“We share his stories across the world,” Adams said, “How did (Shakespeare) do it? That’s the question. He was young when he started writing these, and he wasn’t old when he died. I don’t know how you have such a wealth of storytelling and imagination as he did.”
“The Book of Will” is part of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival running on rotation with “The Comedy of Errors” and “The Tempest” through Aug. 5 at Ewing Cultural Center, 48 Sunset Rd., Bloomington. For tickets and a full schedule, visit illinoisshakes.com.
