Two Lost Boys Blog

William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge - A Short Review

Hello everyone,

Last week I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of the brand new book, 'William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge' from Penguin Random House and Quirk Books. Since they were so kind as to send me a copy, I thought I would write a short review of it here.


Authored by Ian Doescher, it is the sixth book in the series, much like how 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith' was the sixth film in the series. The book is printed in hard cover with a book jacket depicting General Grievous, the Death Star, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. When released on September 8th this year, the recommended retail price will be $14.95 (US$, plus tax). The ISBN number is: 978-59474-808-0.

So let's now take a look inside the book.

Like any good Shakespearean play, it starts with a list of the cast and characters - the dramatis personae. Listed are such things as the chorus, 'YODA, a Jedi Master', 'Clone Troopers' and 'Players'. On the next page we see the prologue, which is set in 'Outer space', and is spoken by the chorus. The chorus speaks the part normally seen on screen as the rolling yellow text. You know that you're in for an interesting time with this play when the prologue chorus starts with,


and thirteen lines later ends on,


I can just see it now, going to the cinema when 'The Force Awakens' is released, and seeing that roll up at the start instead of, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."

With that, the text delves straight into the story, in Act 1, Scene 1. The entire text is very much like what I described above, and between the futuristic talk all twisted and inverted in an attempt to sound Elizabethan, it comes out sounding like it could have been written by a cross between Yoda and Shakespeare, which is really probably what Doeschler was going for!

The whole play appears to remain true to authentic Shakespearean plays (as much as one can being about Star Wars), and includes stage directions typical of Shakespearean plays, such as 'Exeunt', and 'Aside'. Seeing the characters use words such as 'knoweth' and 'thou' makes me chuckle, as I can just imagine the Jedi Council sitting there mid-crisis, enunciating words such as those. Even quirkier is the fact that R2-D2 has "asides" in the play, where we hear his thoughts, but then when he speaks to the human characters, he goes back to beeping and whirring!


Makes you feel sorry for the poor "abus'd" little guy, doesn't it?

There are black and white illustrations throughout the play, too, which depict various scenes, and the Acts are divided up by an image of Chewbacca holding a flag, dressed in his Elizabethan finest.


After the end of the play there is an Afterward by the author, Acknowledgements, and finally a Sonnet, titled, "Sonnet 66 'There's Magic in the Web of It...'", which informs you about Quirk Books' website, where you can find educational content, downloads and interviews. It's actually really funny to read; who ever would have thought someone would write a plug for a website as a sonnet?

Overall this book is pretty funny, and would provide some good, lighthearted fun for a student studying Shakespeare, or a theatre group that wanted to try something completely unique. I don't think, however, it is something that I would just go to the book store and pick up to read. Elizabethan language can be hard on the brain, and mix that in with the language and context of Star Wars, and you'll probably be a bit confused - it can be pretty trippy!

As I said above, the play is out on September 8th this year from Pengiun Random House and Quirk Books.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the Disqus area, below.

Dan.

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You can pre-order 'William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge' now on Amazon.com. By clicking this Amazon link you help to support Two Lost Boys, at no extra cost to you.



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Disclaimer:
All quoted text, titles and image contents are copyright Penguin Random House, Quirk Books, Disney and/or Lucasfilm. All other contents, including review wording, edit style of images, and layout are copyright Two Lost Boys.