by William Shakespeare/Illustrated by Paul Duffield
ages: anyone interested in Shakespeare

Since my on-line book group began reading a Shakespeare play every summer, I’ve struggled with the form. First of all, I think Shakespeare should be seen, not read, and I’ve found that just reading the text isn’t at all beneficial for me. I have tried watching movies and reading it at the same time (watch a scene, read a scene), and that works all right.

But now I have Manga Shakespeare! It’s like reading and seeing the play simultaneously: very helpful. (Actually in the spirit of full disclosure, I read the graphic novel once, read the introduction to the play in our Riverside Shakespeare, and then read the graphic novel again. And it worked beautifully.) I liked the drawings: it made it easy to figure out who was who, and even though I never quite got a grasp of the setting (it was this weird hybrid between modern and historical), it didn’t really bother me. I’m not one to comment on manga having never read it, but I do have to say that this was an excellent way to read the bard.

As for the play itself: I liked it. Reading the scholarly introduction helped, because it clued me in to the nuances of the play that I didn’t get the first time around (like why it ended the way it did). It’s a silly little play (not as funny as his comedies, though) with people wandering around the island, and a thwarted assasination attempt, fairies and sprites, and love at first sight (which was not as gag-inducing as many other love-at-first-sight plotlines).

Anyway. I’m not going to go out and recommend that you read The Tempest, but I will recommend Manga Shakespeare as a way to read the Bard. It’s really a very good way to access the plays.

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s, or your local independent bookstore.