The Book of Will, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, through March 27. 617-585-5678 or lyricstage.com
Who put together the collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays? Theater buffs certainly know that the answer is not the author himself. After all, when the great English playwright died in 1616, there was no single definitive edition of the entire canon. Shakespeare scholars do agree that John Heminges and Henry Condell—two members of the playwright's troupe known as the King's Men—brought 36 plays to publisher Edward Blount and printer Isaac Haggard, who published the now fabled First Folio in 1623.
How and why did they accomplish this Herculean task? Lauren Gunderson, a dramatist who often focuses on iconic figures—the Nobel Prize scientist Marie Curie for example ("The Half Life of Marie Curie")—brought together fact and imaginative speculation about the compiling duo and their efforts. The result is an intriguing if slightly overlong 2017 play "The Book of Will"—now in an exuberantly vivid area premiere by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.
Right from the start, Gunderson brings theatrical life to what likely were the on-going differences between the King's Men's apparent dedication to the authentic plays and what the company —and especially signature actor Richard Burbage--deemed the "mediocrity" of other contemporary efforts. Here Burbage speaks of his soul in the part of Hamlet and insists "I have been defiled" by other actors' portrayals. "The Book of Will" approaches Heminges and Condell as friends of the 'guy' known as Will and actors as passionate about the plays as their creator must have been.
With the death of Burbage (1619), they find their challenge to provide the theatergoing public and posterity with an authoritative collection of what would be known as "Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies" all the more compelling. Condell warns, "Publish or vanish." He also loftily declares,"We are Will" and speaks of Shakespeare's legacy being on the line. Heminges worries that the compilation may be an "impossible project," but his supportive wife Rebecca looks to the result as 'art.' Eventually Ben Jonson, the Bard's friend and estimable dramatist himself ("Volpone"), enters the mix with insight and what Condell calls his "clout."
How much of the account of the First Folio's history is accurate is open to scholarly debate. As always, there is a measure of dramatic license. Still Gunderson seems to be faithful to the essential developments in a play that never becomes a dry lesson. There may be over-repetition of Condell's minority report fondness for "Pericles" and Jonson's self-important displays, but "The Book of Will" brings worthy attention to Heminges and Condell, Shakespeare editor Ralph Crane, Emilia Bassano Lanier (thought to be the 'Dark Lady' of some of the sonnets) and the title achievement itself.
Lyric Stage Company artistic director Courtney O'Connor keeps that attention both lively and convincing with a first-rate cast clearly as dedicated to Shakespeare's plays and the Folio as the people they portray. Joshua Wolf Coleman captures Heminges' complex combination of insecurity and determination. Ed Hoopman has all of Condell's fire and alacrity. Fred Sullivan Jr. catches Jonson's gravitas as well as his gusto. Sarah Newhouse captures Rebecca's spirit and Emilia's allure. Grace Experience is a revelation as Heminges' feisty daughter Alice. Will McGarrahan smartly evokes both Burbage's high theater standards and blind publisher William Jaggard's commercialism.
Gunderson has spoken of her play as "one big metaphor for loss and legacy." The Lyric Stage Company's vibrant and vital "The Book of Will" should have audiences returning to the wit and wisdom of Shakespeare's legacy again and again.