‘The Book of Will’ a beautiful homage to the arts, friendship and the one man who made it all possible

At OpenStage in Fort Collins a funny, interesting journey into the world of Shakespeare

The director of The Book of Will, Sydney Parks Smith urged the audience with her opening words to support the arts: Go to plays, art museums, dance, read banned books (she was especially adamant about this one). The connection to supporting the arts and The Book of Will is clear from the beginning. Indeed, this play asks us to fathom a world without the original Book of Will, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies and then thankfully shows us why we don’t have to.

Set a few years after the death of Shakespeare, the mostly true story of The Book of Will is about best friends and players for the King’s Men acting company, Henry Condell (Jacob Offen) and John Heminges (James Burns). When their good friend and fellow player, Richard Burbage (Cisco Saavedra) passes, the two are hit by a sudden realization: Without Shakespeare or Burbage (who knew his parts by heart) the works of Shakespeare, and therefore their own life’s work, would disappear.

They could not let this happen, so they made a plan — a very ambitious and nearly impossible plan to compile and publish all of Shakespeare’s plays into one big book. What follows is the very funny and very touching story of how they did it.

Famous for writing his plays in parts so as to make it more difficult for others to steal his work, Shakespeare rarely had a complete play in one text. This made compiling Shakespeare’s works no easy feat and is why Heminges is so hesitant to take on the task Condell is so eager to begin.

On stage is the pub owed by Heminges and tended by his daughter, Alice (Kaya Rudolph). It is the meeting place for all the players after the shows at the famous Globe Theatre in London. Decisions are made at the pub, dreams are realized and friendships are strengthened while hearts break.

Having never heard of this play, I walked in blind and was immensely and pleasantly surprised to find myself both laughing and crying out loud at this witty, clever and moving masterpiece written Lauren Gunderson.

The Book of Will is a true celebration of the arts in general and theater specifically. The sheer delight and joy the characters take in recalling all of Shakespeare’s plays (each, of course, has a favorite) makes me know I am not alone in my admiration for particular writers. The giddiness the players show each time a new complete work is found is palpable.

I am particularly grateful for director Parks Smith’s decision not to have the characters speak in incomprehensible British accents. Rather than taking away from the story, it added to it because audience members could catch every word of the carefully written dialog.

Perhaps it’s unfair that the funny guys are always remembered (especially over the straight man), but this is surely the case with this play. I can’t remember the last time I was in a theater and heard the amount of laughter I did for The Book of Will. Offen as Condell was over the top in all the right ways. I loved his willingness to be outlandish, and his well-timed facial expressions alone made me giggle.

Another standout funny guy was Ben Johnson (David Austin-Gröen), the poet laureate and Shakespeare’s long-time rival. He plays a drunk man better than any drunk man I know. He’s endearing and charming all while he’s meant to be utterly unlikeable by the players who worship Shakespeare.

I cannot remember the last time I was so enamored with a play, the last time I was still thinking about a play days later. Perhaps it’s the remembrance of the pure joy one can find in the arts of any kind, or maybe it’s the laughter and the shared delight that is theatre at its best. The Book of Will is not to be missed. Get to the Lincoln Center soon and see for yourself.