Description
Book SynopsisTHE TIMES'' BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARThis book charts the personal and professional journey of Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2012 until 2022 and one of the great Shakespearians of his generation (
Sunday Times). During his illustrious career, Doran has directed or produced all of the plays within Shakespeare''s First Folio -- a milestone reached in the same year that the world celebrates the 400th anniversary of its original publication. Each chapter looks at a different play, considering the choices made and weaving in both autobiographical detail and background on the RSC, as well as giving insights into key collaborations, including those with actors such as Judi Dench, David Tennant, Harriet Walter, Patrick Stewart, Simon Russell Beale, Paterson Joseph and Doran''s husband, the late Antony Sher, as well as seminal practitioners such as Cicely Berry, John Barton and Terry Hands. The book also includes 16 striking pages with stills fr
Trade ReviewThis career retrospective, centred on the Folio, reflects Doran’s temperament:
decent, diligent, likeable, lucid. It’s
openly learned, plunging into a close reading of Romeo and Juliet’s prologue, but it’s also candid. -- Dominic Cavendish * The Telegraph *
It has given me so much joy to read the story of Greg Doran's journey through these great plays. Fantastic, informative, revealing, occasionally gossipy and thoroughly engrossing, this is a remarkable memoir of a remarkable career. Greg Doran’s brilliance, clarity of thought and – most of all – his humanity shines through. * David Tennant *
One of the distinctive achievements of Greg Doran’s recently concluded term as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company was to direct all the plays in the
First Folio, creating a deposit of excellent, thoughtful renderings. His recollections and reflections on these productions are collected in
My Shakespeare. Some chapters are almost entirely anecdotal, but there are few if any that fail to cast some new light on the drama under discussion. -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman *
Doran reflects with intelligence and grace and wit on himself and those with whom he has worked, and on the ways in which they sought to breathe fresh life into a series of plays that, for the most part, audiences think they know well … You’ll find it an informative-instructive delight. -- Rhodri Lewis * Prospect Magazine *
This year marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, which was met with a deluge of accompanying books.
This is the best and most fun. * The Times, Best Poetry and Literature Books of the Year *
A revelatory and revolutionary breakdown of the canon in a way that works for both the professional and uninitiated. His (obviously tight) grip on Shakespeare's universe is permeated by reverence and deference, but what seeps through the pages is his pure love for his language and characters … It's a joy to (re)discover Shakespeare's plays through his eyes. -- Cindy Marcolina * Broadway World *
Whether you are looking for insights into both major and minor works by the Bard, the story of two theatrical giants or a history of the RSC over the last few decades,
My Shakespeare is
a must-read and must-buy, since this is the kind of
thoughtful, well-written and consistently entertaining book that any lover of serious theatre would be delighted to read or receive as a gift. For any budding director who wants to bring Shakespeare to the stage, it could also act as
a highly readable manual, offering morsels of intelligent guidance that only come with a lifetime’s experience. -- Philip Fisher * British Theatre Guide *
What runs through this
fascinating book is not only [Doran’s] passionate commitment, but his belief that Shakespeare holds up a mirror to all our lives and to the tumultuous times in which we live … The results are
constantly illuminating … This is a very good book that reminds us that practitioners often make the best commentators …
[A] thought-provoking journey through the First Folio. -- Michael Billington * Country Life *
Greg Doran’s
My Shakespeare generously offers us all the most intimate understanding of what the works of Shakespeare can give us; life with all its tragic and comic masks. Doran writes for the lover of Shakespeare, but allows those tentative about Shakespeare's genius to understand why his storytelling is miraculously both universal and local.
My Shakespeare is a worthy addition to the study of Shakespeare’s plays in performance - and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t make me itch to get on stage again, to exercise my acting muscles in the greatest poetry-gym in the English language. * Paterson Joseph *
Greg Doran’s writing, like his productions, comes from an honest, ungimmicky place. He infects the reader with his own curiosity about the world that gave birth to Shakespeare and how and why he still connects with us. He combines an unostentatious erudition with stories of a deeply personal journey from schoolboy visits to the RSC at Stratford to becoming its Artistic Director. I am so glad everyone can now be let in on his revelatory insights and not just those of us who have been lucky enough to be in a rehearsal room with him. * Harriet Walter *
Table of ContentsChapter Page Introduction 8 1 Romeo and Juliet: A Prologue 9 2 Titus Andronicus 23 3 Henry VIII, or All is True. 31 4 The Merchant of Venice 39 5 The Winter’s Tale 45 6 Timon of Athens 50 7 Macbeth 55 8 As You Like It 65 9 King John 69 10 Much Ado About Nothing 75 11 The Taming of The Shrew 85 12 All’s Well That Ends Well 92 13 Othello 98 14 Venus & Adonis 110 15 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 116 16 Antony & Cleopatra 127 17 Merry Wives: The Musical 134 18 Coriolanus 139 19 Hamlet 144 20 Love’s Labour’s Lost 153 21 Twelfth Night 161 22 Julius Caesar 168 23 Richard II 176 24 Henry IV Part One 183 25 Henry IV Part Two 200 26 Henry V 203 27 King Lear 209 28 The Tempest 217 29 Troilus and Cressida 225 30 Measure for Measure 231 31 The Comedy of Errors (a lockdown chapter) 235 32 Henry VI Part One 240 33 Henry VI Part Two 249 34 Henry VI Part Three 253 35 Richard III 255 36 Cymbeline: An Epilogue 268
