William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher was given to me several years ago. I finally dug it out of my stack of unread books. The book was originally published by Quirk Books, but it is now available from Insight Editions.

The book is fun in a way that is obvious to anyone who has read Shakespeare. It is an entertaining and often clever retelling of the movie Star Wars: A New Hope as a play in five acts written by William Shakespeare. The play does not deviate from the movie, following the movie scene for scene, but each main character is given asides, speeches, and soliloquys that provide insights into motivations and attitudes.

For example, Darth Vader is given an early speech after killing a rebel leader, where the speech begins:

And so another dies by my own hand,
This hand which now encas’d in blackness is.
O that the fingers of this wretched hand
Had not the pain of suff’ring ever known.

R2-D2, who in the movie communicates only with beeps and whistles, has asides in English that reveal his motivations and purposes. I found this awkward. For example, when R2-D2 and C-3PO separate after landing on Tatooine, R2-D2 gives the following aside:

—Beep, beep, beep!
Now shall I leave his company awhile—
Belike my absence shall alleviate
His obstinate resolve, and teach him thoughts
Of kindness, care, and good humility.

Aunt Beru is given a cutting remark:

Pray, tell thine uncle if he should find
A translator, be sure it Bocce speaks.
[Aside:] ’Tis true, the last time Owen bought a droid,
More dud than droid we purchas’d in the deal.

Some of the speeches refer to events that occur or people we meet in the later movies. I found that also awkward. When Luke views the hologram speech of Leia pleading for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke says:

—I wonder who she is.
Whoever she may be, whatever is
Her cause, I shall unto her pleas respond.
Not e’en were she my sister could I know
A duty of more weight than I feel now.

A chorus is used to explain some background, transitions, and action:

So now Chewbacca, Han, and Luke proceed
Unto detention level 5, quite grave.
With bravery, good hope, and all Godspeed,
Their errand is a princess there to save.

In the afterword, the author mentions that the play is 3,076 lines long, “average length for a Shakespearean play.” The language used is not nearly as difficult as that of the authentic plays, but many lines are freely borrowed or adapted.

The illustrations by Nicolas Delort are very good, and they provide a significant part of the charm of the book. Unfortunately, Delort is credited only on the copyright page, which is a crime.

Students new to Shakespeare might benefit from reading this play. Familiar with the movie, they can see how a play must be constructed using a chorus, speeches, asides, and soliloquys to communicate verbally what is easily seen in the movie.

There are a few minor errors in the book about who is speaking a line. Sometimes (but not always) Doescher uses “exeunt”, which means “they go out,” when one character leaves the stage; the direction should be “exit.” Possibly these errors are corrected in the current edition of the book.

Doescher has now written ten plays:

1. Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope
2. The Empire Striketh Back
3. The Jedi Doth Return
4. The Clone Army Attacketh
5. The Phantom of Menace
6. Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge
7. The Force Doth Awaken
8. Jedi the Last
9. The Merry Rise of Skywalker
10. The Mandalorian of Nevarro

I consider this series a novelty, and I don’t plan to read any more of the plays.

Rating: Three stars, good.