Shakespeare’s will is notorious for the bequest of the second-best bed to his wife, Anne Hathaway.
The actual document is quite short, as most of the will is about the entailment
of his property to his sister and her family.
How did
Anne Hathaway feel about that? No-one knows, but this play is an imaginary take
on what may have been. It would be fair to say that she’s not best pleased.
Shakespeare’s Will was written by Vern Thiessen in 2005. It is a one-woman play with Anne
Hathaway in the lead role, set on the day of her husband’s funeral. She is
handed the will, to her surprise. What follows is a speculative rumination on
her life with William Shakespeare, culminating with the reading of the will,
and her reaction to it.
The performance
was a play reading, rather than an actual acting of the play, which was a
little bit odd. I can understand why you might do a reading if there was more
than one personae in the dramatis, but in this case, it was essentially a
monologue. It’s not even a dress rehearsal – the actor still has the script in
her hands. There doesn’t seem to be a plan to actually perform the play. It was
read at Circa Theatre on the same set as King Lear is performed on, with a table and chair added
as props.
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