Review: Shakespeare ALIVE! by Joseph Papp and Elizabeth Kirkland

    Shakespeare ALIVE! It's a bold claim to make, the idea that a pocket-sized book could bring texts from 400 years ago back to life. An even bolder one if you consider that Shakespeare's main texts are his plays: at their liveliest on the stage, not on the page. Written by founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival (now The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park program) Joseph Papp and scholar Elizabethan Kirkland, Shakespeare ALIVE!: America's Foremost Theater Producer Brings Shakespeare's England to Life paints an easy-to-understand picture of the historical context out of which Shakespeare emerged. It's an ideal read for beginners to Elizabethan era history, and for those who want to understand just enough to enlighten their understanding of Shakespeare.

Things well done, and with care

    This book's main merit is its readability. It tells an accurate history of Elizabethan England and of English theatre in simple language. The book is clearly organized into parts, chapters, and subtopics. The book stays on track: it boils down the history to that relevant to Shakespeare, his audience, and his works. History is addressed directly to "you," as if you were an ordinary Elizabethan living in Shakespeare's time and witnessing his plays rise to prominence in your world. The book also includes lots of short quotations from plays within the explanation of the historical context to show the relevance of those historical facts.

    At the opening of Part III is a collection of black-and-white photos from New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare's plays, from the 1960s to the 1980s (with captions for context). The photos provide insight into how modern interpretations of Shakespeare differ from Elizabethan interpretations. However, the photos could be better interspersed throughout the book, so that the photos match up with the sections of the book which they illustrate. This placement would allow readers to easily relate the history to the play to the production. In addition, a newer edit of the book (originally published in 1988) with more photos, from different places and years, could enrich the reader's experience.

Information sought is good, but given unsought is better

    Thank goodness for readability. But with readability comes the danger of over-simplicity. So is the threat of the "you" in this book: though it draws the reader into the story, it creates a character of an 'ordinary' Elizabethan without a definition. Who is "you"?

    To hold the reader's attention, the subcategories in Shakespeare ALIVE! have names with modern references. Though all are witty, some of these categorizations are unclear or even misleading. For example, the subtitle 'A Mighty Fortress' heads a section on the Catholic and Protestant churches, and 'Out from Under' describes the social life of teenagers. Who would have known?

Cover of Shakespeare ALIVE!