A Day Out at The Book of Will at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

[Ad- gifted experience] We are back at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch for another wonderful performance. The Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is a really wonderful venue – our current favorite. We got a few drinks at the bar, which has on the tap cocktails, and then settled into our seats for The Book of Will. The Book of Will is a love letter to Shakespeare, showcasing a group of the King’s Men and their wives, who are looking to preserve as many as William’s plays as they possibly can.

When entering the theatre, the area was set up a little differently than normal. There were seats all the way around the stage, reflecting on the way The Globe theatre was. This seating felt more intimate and the amount of people felt much smaller than other performances we have attended. The actors did play to all sides, thought primarily to the front, which made me feel like I had the best seats in the house.

The King’s Men in this play have been performing for quite some time, however with William’s death and the amount of actors performing butchered versions of the plays they love, they take it personally. After the death of one of the King’s Men, the one that knew the majority of the lines by heart, the other two make it their goal to publish all of William’s plays, though the head of King’s Men does need some convincing.

This quest becomes a long, drawn out thing as publishing back then was much more challenging. Actor’s don’t have publishing writes, and instead it comes down to whoever publishes it first. And, to make matters worse, they don’t really have most of the performances and instead need to write them out using notes, memory, and butchered versions that other acting crews have written. During this long amount of time, there are several illnesses, deaths, and issues with printing. The King’s Men need to team up with a publisher who is known for stealing, raise money from William’s ex wife, and remove aspects that have been printed due to copyright.

There are a lot of nods to William Shakespeare in The Book of Will, as you would expect. There are moments when actors out the outside of the stage are mimicking through a play what is going on with other actors on the main stage. These sort of moments showcased some of William’s plays, mirroring what is going on with those trying to preserve his work. At the end of the performance, there is also a big nod to all of the plays that came from William, even in more modern times. It’s a really well written, well performed play that kept me captivated throughout.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!