Soliloquies: the lady doth indeed protest

by Chris Wind

Lady MacBeth kill herself? Please. And Portia—you don’t think someone that intelligent would be pissed to be bait and trophy? As for Kate ... that's supposed to be funny?" the lady doth indeed protest" is a collection of soliloquies by Ophelia, Lady MacBeth, Regan, Portia, Desdemona, Kate, Isabella, Juliet, Marina, and Miranda—protesting the role given to them by Shakespeare.Exquisite poetry. Fresh new audition pieces. And a theatrical script ready for performance.“…not only dynamic, imaginative verse writing, but extremely intelligent and intuitive insight … I know many actresses who would love to get their hands on this material! “As a Shakespeare director, I’m thrilled by the perspective which Chris’ pieces provide of the plays and characters which they challenge – I believe these will be sought after by theatre companies which also do solid classical work, as new material for their audiences, embraced by a season of Shakespeare plays. “As a feminist, I’m excited by how these characters come alive and point up the perceptions and misperceptions that have shaped their literary and theatrical destinies. “As a dramaturg, I’m more than pleased to find modern playwrights who can write in heightened language and/or verse. This is a rare gift, and Chris has this gift.” Joanne Zipay, Judith Shakespeare Company, NYC

85 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Chris Wind is the author of This is what happens, dreaming of kaleidoscopes, Satellites Out of Orbit (including Thus Saith Eve, Soliloquies: the lady doth indeed protest, Snow White Gets Her Say, Deare Sister, and UnMythed— all individually available), Paintings and Sculptures, Particivision and other stories, and Excerpts . Her prose and poetry has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The Antigonish Review, Ariel, Atlantis, Bogg, Canadian Author and Bookman, Canadian Woman Studies, Contemporary Verse 2, The Copperfield Review, event, Existere, (f.)Lip, grain, Herizons, Herstoria, The Humanist, The New Quarterly, Other Voices, Poetry Toronto, Prism International, Rampike, Shard, The University of Toronto Review, The Wascana Review, Waves, Whetstone, White Wall Review, and Women's Education des femmes, as well as several anthologies, including Contemporary Monologues for Young Women, Clever Cats, Visions of Poesy, and Going for Coffee. Her theatrical work has been performed by several companies, including Venus Theatre and Shoestring Radio Theatre, and read on CBC Radio. She has been awarded sixteen Ontario Arts Council grants. chriswind.net

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I quite enjoyed this poetry collection! I really enjoyed the different takes on many of the ladies of Shakespeare and I appreciate the depth the author took to give them the proper lens they should have been viewed from the start! I had a particular appreciation for Lady MacBeth's very short poem, if only because I loved the confidence being projected in the use of language. There is a cleverness in most of these poems (for the characters I recognized at least) and harsh truth-bombs that were often being dropped.

The main downside to this collection really is that you need to be well versed in Shakespeare to enjoy it. While many of the themes in the poem are universe, it may be difficult for some readers to pick this up without having prior knowledge of the heroines who are having these open and raw conversations with the reader. Some poems worked better than others for me, and I think that all came down to which plays I have read over years versus the ones I have no experience with.

I think this is a decent collection, and the writing is very open and raw, which I adored. I think for me the drawback just came from my own lack of knowledge when it came to some of the heroines baring their souls to me.