Local play explores Shakespeare’s family conflicts
William Shakespeare’s life and family is explored in the original play “The Drown’ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last” in Provo.
William Shakespeare’s life and family is explored in the original play “The Drown’ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last” in Provo.
William Shakespeare's life and family is explored in the original play "The Drown'ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last" in Provo.
William Shakespeare's life and family is explored in the original play "The Drown'ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last" in Provo.
William Shakespeare's life and family is explored in the original play "The Drown'ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last" in Provo.
William Shakespeare's life and family is explored in the original play "The Drown'ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last" in Provo.
William Shakespeare’s fractured relationships with members of his family are explored in a new play by local playwright Mahonri Stewart.
The play, called “The Drown’ed Book, or the History of William Shakespeare, Part Last,” explores William’s relationships with his wife, Anne Hathaway, and their daughter, Judith Quiney.
The play’s title echos a line from the sorcerer Prospero in “The Tempest,” whose relationship with his daughter Miranda factors into that show.
Historical information about Shakespeare includes mysterious holes, but Stewart says he believes that Shakespeare’s plots contain autobiographical details, and he was inspired by elements of Shakespeare’s plays as he created the story for his script.
” ‘The Tempest’ is a very personal play (for Shakespeare),” Stewart said. “And you get this sense in ‘The Winter’s Play’ and ‘Othello’ … and you get the sense of this in some of the sonnets, too … and I try to find these little things where I’m like, ‘This fits with my understanding of the biography, and again, with Shakespeare, we’re guessing as much as we’re revealing, but some of that guesswork is fun and that detective work is fun, because you’re trying to base it in history, but you also have room for interpretation.”
He said that he has enjoyed learning about Shakespeare’s life.
“I had been doing a lot of research on Shakespeare,” Stewart said. “I’ve loved Shakespeare since I was in junior high. … I’m also a big lover of history, I almost majored in history, and so whenever I bite onto a subject, or even an author I like, I often like to read about them.”
One reason Stewart focused on the end of Shakespeare’s career is that that’s what many of the nailed-down historical documents cover.
“We’ve got his will,” Stewart said, “and that’s where we find out about his conflict with Thomas Quiney — he totally cuts him out of the will, and he finds a way to give some of the money to his daughter, Judith, but the bulk of it goes to his daughter, Susanna.”
Thomas Quiney was Shakespeare’s son-in-law, having married his daughter Judith, and that conflict is one of the main thrusts of Stewart’s story.
“It creates more questions than it does answers, some of these documents,” Stewart said. “But they’re really intriguing questions, and so I explore the questions. And obviously, there’s some creative interpolation going on, but I try to base it as much as I can in what I think happened.”
Portraying someone as iconic as William Shakespeare can be daunting, but Bradley Moss, who plays Shakespeare, said that Stewart’s script provides “accessible moments of recognizable humanity.”
“I think one thing that Mahonri has done well is made him an accessible character,” Moss said. “He’s got his faults. He has times where he’s tongue-tied and he doesn’t know what to say. There are times where he says something really kind of clever and witty, but it’s really biting and hurtful to those people who hear it. … He’s not this person who’s been put on a pedestal. He’s a person who’s dealing with a lot of the same issues that our audience may be dealing with.”
Stewart founded the play’s producing company, Zion Theatre Company, which seeks to perform “pieces that uplift people spiritually and intellectually,” he said. Several of his own scripts have been produced by the company.
“Although there were people willing to do my work, it takes a lot of strain sometimes, even to get somebody to read your script, much less produce it,” Stewart said. “So I went Shakespeare’s route. He was a producer on his theater, so I thought, why not follow his example.”
Stewart enjoys working on original shows, rather than tried-and-true favorites.
“There’s something about seeing the imagination take flesh and blood,” he said. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve lived a very imaginary life, whether it was playing with my action figures in a sandbox or writing my own stories, there was constantly another world around me. And so it just naturally led into writing, and specifically playwrighting.”
Shawnda Moss, who plays Anne in the show — a real married couple playing the central married couple of the story — said being part of an original show is exciting.
“What is exciting about it being original is there are no expectations going into it,” she said. “We really were free to make it our own and not worry about what’s come before and what’s been done before.”
Although he’s started with the end of Shakespeare’s life, Stewart said he hopes to write more plays about the Bard’s biography.
“I eventually want to do a whole series,” Stewart said. “I want to do a whole kind of Stratford cycle about his life. (But) I don’t know when I’ll finish them.”
THE DROWN’ED BOOK
What: Original play by Mahonri Stewart
When: Performances Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. through Sept. 2
Where: Castle Amphitheatre, 1300 E. Center St., Provo
Tickets: $10-$12
Info: ziontheatrecompany.weebly.com
Note: Audience members are encouraged to bring blankets, pillows, chairs or other outdoor amenities that will help make them more comfortable on the Castle’s stone seating.