The Untold Stories of Shakespeare

Cory Klein as John Heminges (left) and Oliver Kuhtz as Henry Condell (right) in The Book of Will at Lake Country Playhouse. Photo credit: Mark Frohna.

A review of The Book of Will

by Meika Olson, age 17

Almost everyone knows of the characters that William Shakespeare left behind upon his death in 1616. To this day, actors across the world still study and portray iconic characters such as Romeo, Juliet, Prospero, Hamlet, and more. People everywhere are still familiar with so many of those characters’ hopes, dreams, and desires. But what about the friends Shakespeare left behind in his true, off-stage life? The Book of Will, produced at Lake Country Playhouse, tells the story of Henry Condell, John Heminges, and their friends and family, as they piece together Shakespeare’s many plays to create the First Folio. Without their work, we likely would not have known as many of Shakespeare’s plays as we do today.

This story was told with incredible attention to detail and the ability to make audiences both laugh and cry with the range of things happening onstage. While some moments were incredibly sad, there were also plenty of witty jokes throughout. Before the show even began, however, audience members were immersed in the story’s world through the creative set design by Eric Rorholm. Lake Country Playhouse is a very small space, and for this show the set design (including Shakespearean quotes and posters) extended into the audience and all along the back wall, with the walls being painted past the booth instead of only on the stage area.

All of the actors onstage possessed incredible comedic timing, but the emotional scenes performed by Madison Nowak as Alice and Cory Klein as John stood out to me the most. Their performances at the top of Act Two, when tragedy struck their family, were exceptionally beautiful and heartbreaking. Altogether, the cast seemed to work very well as an ensemble onstage together.

All in all, The Book of Will’s creative script concept, entertaining plotline, nuanced actors, and transformative set design and costumes worked together and created a highly enjoyable theatrical experience.

You can see more shows like this at Lake Country Playhouse!