Shakespeare on Page and Stage: Selected Essays

In this expansive, insightful essay collection, Wells (Great Shakespeare Actors: Burbage to Branagh) more than once reflects upon Helena’s description of her beloved as “mine own and not mine own” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; the same simple yet dense phrase could also apply to Wells’s relationship with Shakespeare himself. Wells never lapses into the rapturous, fawning vein that Shakespeare experts are prone to slip into. Rather, the reader gathers quickly that this is someone who has lived with and in Shakespeare’s work for nearly a lifetime, and possesses all the affection, annoyance, and esteem engendered by lifelong relationships. The book begins with a section titled “Shakespearean Influences,” which includes a delightful look at how bowdlerized, sanitized 19th-century collections of the plays, intended for children, helped ensure their canonical status. Following that are several rigorous pieces on particular works, and, even more rewarding, discussions of the challenges and rewards of watching, performing, directing, and editing Shakespeare. Wells assumes a broad knowledge of the basic texts, which may frustrate some lay readers. But his engagement with the material is lively enough that it will more likely inspire them to dust off their old editions of the plays from their school days and dive back in. (Nov.)