The Good, the Bard and the Ugly: A funny, modern take on Shakespeare's best-known plays from the Bafta-winning Horrible Histories writer

by Susie Donkin

'I can wholeheartedly confirm that Susie Donkin is funnier than Shakespeare' MEL GIEDROYC
Imogen thinks she knows what Shakespeare's most famous plays are all about. Everyone does, right?

Star-crossed lovers. Naughty Greeks getting up to mischief in the woods. Scottish kings losing their minds. Young men with daddy issues. Dads who just need some positive affirmation from their daughters*. (*Okay, that's maybe putting it a bit mildly)

But when Imogen brings 14 amateur actors together to perform one of the Bard's great works in a bid to save their local community centre, it becomes apparent that she - or anyone who reads this book for that matter - will never see Shakespeare's greatest works in the same light again . . .

"BAFTA-winning Horrible Histories writer Susie Donkin makes Shakespeare's greatest works even greater." Stan Lafski, Imogen's uncle

"A very funny book. Would definitely not have been as funny if it was about Christopher Marlowe." Larry Fairfoul, troupe member

Genres: Fiction, Shakespeare, Humor

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 17, 2023

Reviews

[Becci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick fun read. It's difficult to describe but if you're brand new to Shakespeare , or want to learn a bit more about some of his most famous plays without reading them...then this one's for you!

Warning though it's full of absolute spoilers for Romeo and Juliet, midsummer night's dream, Macbeth, hamlet and king Lear .
Three that I knew well and two I didn't.

I enjoyed learning about the ones I didnt know , it's always good for possible pub quiz questions!

Overall the plot was sweet and there were some fun characters , although quite a few to keep on top of!

I don't necessarily think the tagline "think you know shakespeares most famous plays? Think again". Is the right tagline for this book... It made me think this would be a modern twist on those plays as a proper story rather than mostly having the 5 plays described to you by characters albeit in a funny way and with elements of those plays in their actual lives


Being someone from Cornwall myself , I would have appreciated a more imaginative name than Tintown but I'll admit the descriptions of the high street and the crazy community is bang on the money .

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imogen wants to save the building her recently deceased grandmother used to put on theatre performances. So she pulls the community together to do Shakespeare. Cue much hilarity as various troupe members tell the story of different plays to convince the others this is the one they should do. It's a fun look at the work of the great man and an entertaining novel all round.

[Pudsey Recommends · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stan Lafski arrived in Cornwall from Poland in the early 1980s, captivated by the charms of a local girl and single mother named Brenda. His love for her was so profound that he never departed. The couple embarked on a remarkable venture, establishing a humble rural touring company that breathed new life into Shakespeare's classics within the abandoned tin mines scattered across the area. Their incredible talent and dedication eventually propelled them to national recognition, paving the way for the establishment of an arts and community hub within an old cinema they had leased in Cornwall.

However, as history has it, such endeavours are often cursed to fade away with their visionary founders. Despite the Tin Men Theatre Company halting production for the past decade, the local community remained deeply engaged, utilising the space for an array of activities ranging from invigorating Zumba and yoga classes to beatbox sessions, etc . Sadly, with Brenda's passing, her granddaughter Imogen returns to town only to discover that the council plans to sell the building to profit-seeking developers who intend to convert it into flats.

To halt this impending sale, Brenda orchestrates a plan, rallying together a group of fourteen curious locals who harbour a shared love for their community space and, as we find out, Shakespeare too. Imogen convinces them to produce a Shakespeare play, however, the big question is: which one? As lively debates ensue regarding which masterpiece to choose, the reader is taken through some of their options: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear are carefully considered, each with their own merits and perceived flaws. Understandably, concerns arise about the content of these plays, with violence, sexuality, and socio-politics being called into question. However, after much contemplation, they ultimately settle on a play.

Throughout the enthralling journey, Susie Donkin paints a tragic-comic slice of life in rural towns. "The Good, the Bard, and the Ugly," cleverly immerses us in the realm of Shakespeare, through live group discussions. It is a light and enlightening read. Personally, I found joy in the newfound insights gleaned about Shakespeare's works, even though they were not entirely groundbreaking. It becomes evident that the author's intention lies in weaving an enjoyable exploration of these timeless works amidst a simplistic narrative, offering readers a good blend of entertainment and education.

Very grateful to Netgalley and Hodder Books, Hodder Publicity for the advance review copy.  #TheGoodTheBardandTheUgly #NetGalley #pudseyrecommends

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good, The Bard & The Ugly is a humorous, lighthearted and thoroughly engaging story in which Imogen Petticoat-Lane receives a handwritten letter from her Polish grandfather at her home in Forest Green, London. It informs her of her grandmother Brenda's passing and details the arrangements to follow. Stan Lafski had migrated to Britain in the 1980s and fallen in love and married local Cornwall lass and single mother, Brenda. Together they set up a small rural touring company called the Tin Men Theatre Company, performing contemporary versions of Shakespeare in the local abandoned tin mines and had gone on to become one of the best-known, ground-breaking touring theatre companies in the UK. Eventually, they took up residence in The Cameo, an old cinema on the High Street in Truro, which Brenda had leased from the council since the early 1980s for a peppercorn rent, in exchange for maintaining the place.

It had then become the Tin Men Theatre Company HQ, where they would rehearse, perform and party. The last Tin Men production had been over ten years ago now, but Brenda and Stan had continued to live in the flat above. While Imogen is in the area for the funeral she learns that private developers are looking to purchase the place and turn it into luxury apartments despite the community using it for anything from Zumba classes to meditation and yoga sessions. Determined to halt the plans in their tracks she becomes hellbent on ensuring her grandparents' legacy and keeping the space for locals to come together, Imogen decides to rally her troops and perform a Shakespeare play there for old times' sake; now all they must do is choose which one. This is a heartwarming and entertaining story about a community coming together to save an important shared community amenity.

At under 200 pages in length, it's quite a short read, but what is packed into those pages packs quite a punch. The 14 amateur actors who will be pulling off the play meet to discuss each of the Shakespearean masterpieces, their plotlines, pros and cons and any themes each may have e.g. sexual or violent, etc, that may be best avoided. This gives a potted history of the stories which were portrayed in an original and amusing manner, and I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between the cast of characters as they discussed the merits of each play and felt it was a unique way to juxtapose entertainment and education. Illustrating just what a community can achieve when they work together for the greater good, the pages exude a fantastic, inspiring message which underpins the narrative. Donkin has penned an interesting feel-good tale with plenty of characters replete with heart, warmth and personality.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! Cry god for Tintown, Brenda, and the Bard!’ They all roared back as one: ‘For Tintown, Brenda, and the Bard!’”

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Good, the Bard and the Ugly’ by Susie Donkin.

This comedy-drama proved to be a great deal of fun. In it the author, who is a Bafta-winning Horrible Histories writer, presents her take on five of Shakespeare's best-known plays: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, MacBeth, Hamlet, and King Lear.

As for the plot: Imogen Petticoat-Lane receives a letter from her grandfather, Stan, advising of the death of Brenda, her grandmother. Both had been closely involved with the Tin Men, a touring theatrical troupe that for over thirty years had performed modern takes on Shakespeare’s plays based out of their headquarters at the Cameo Theatre in Tintown, Near Truro, Cornwall.

While their last play was over ten years ago Brenda and Stan had continued to live in the flat above and maintained the theatre as a community centre. Now it is due to be sold to developers, who want to turn it into luxury flats.

In order to demonstrate the Cameo’s value to the local community Imogen decides that she will bring together a group of amateur actors to perform one of the Bard's great works. Yet which one?

The five plays are each considered in turn as Susie Donkin has her characters provide a playful synopsis of each alongside the often chaotic preparations for the upcoming production.

In order to boost the profile of the play, Imogen offers a lead role to Larry Fairfoul, one of the original Tin Men known for playing Romeo in his youth. Now Larry is a full-on London luvvy and provides plenty of comic moments.

Overall, I found ‘The Good, the Bard and the Ugly’ a delightful, feel good tale with a wealth of quirky characters, and an amusing irreverent take on Shakespeare.

[Alice Hawthorne (whatalicereads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for my gifted copy in exchange for review! Follow me on insta for more @whatalicereads 🕺

Susie Donkin has been a writer for Horrible Histories since 2009. I don’t know about you, but I LOVED Horrible Histories. The fact that I still sing the songs and remember the facts I learnt from that Rat soooo long ago (I’m talking more than a decade!) just shows how timeless and effective the writing of the show is. This year, Donkin has picked up her golden pen to give us THE GOOD, THE BARD, AND THE UGLY, a glowing short story used as a vehicle to retell Shakespearean tales like Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I went into this one blind and what fun it was!! Donkin introduces us to Imogen and a whole heap of quirky characters living in a little Cornish town. It reads slightly like a Hallmark movie, the kind Emily Henry pokes fun at, the one where the Big Corporate Evil Plan threatens the Heart of the Small Town and the community has to band together to save it.

In this case, the council of Tintown, where Donkin sets the stage, threatens the closure of The Cameo, a traditional cinema in the town that holds the fondest memories for a lot of the townsfolk. It is where the Tin Men Theatre Company, a travelling Shakespeare troupe, began. Imogen, our main protagonist, is the granddaughter of two of the original Tin Men players, so gives a raising speech to her “band of brothers” as it were;)). They plan to put on a Shakespeare play to save The Cameo.

This book was, in my opinion, perfect for everyone!!! Whether you studied Shakespeare at school or uni, know him like the back of your hand, randomly quote lines from various plays (me and I’m not ashamed) OR hate the man for ruining your English class and want to know nothing more about him, this book is for you! Donkin describes some of Shakespeare’s best plays through humorous and detailed dialogue and uses characters to reflect the story of the plays. Easy to digest and super funny, I highly recommend this book!!

[Takealookinsideabook · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The fool talks a sort of profound nonsense, funny but serious, clever but stupid, loveable but annoying all at the same time. Imagine living with Ricky Gervais."

° • ♡ • °

This was actually a really fun read that kept me thoroughly entertained throughout. I was abit skeptical about it at first as I've never been the biggest fan of Shakespeare. I've enjoyed what I've seen/heard from his work and he was obviously a genius but I've never actively gone out my way to look into them.

However, after enjoying the authors previous novel, (Zeus Is A Dick) I decided to give this a try and I'm thrilled that I did!

As someone who wasnt very knowledgeable about the majority of Shakespeares plays before reading this, I am now kind of tempted to look into them more 👀

This book covers the following 5 well known works;

• Romeo & Juliet
• A Midsummer Nights Dream
• Macbeth
• Hamlet
• King Lear

I definitely recommend this book if you're a big fan of Shakey (iykyk) or even if you're not and are just curious. This is a fun and educational read that will keep you entertained until the very end!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a physical copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Alec ⟠]

The Good, the Bard and the Ugly is a funny and heartwarming story of a community coming together to save their community centre from being shut down. Imogen, the main character, plans to put together a Shakespeare play with a local team of 14 complete amateurs. They begin discussing each play and have to decide on a different one each time someone brings up an issue with the play eg. too violent/sexual, until they can settle on a play everyone is happy with. Characters from the community’s past come into the novel at various points, which was interesting, and leads to some great moments towards the end of the novel. As someone with an interest in Shakespeare, I thought this book was really interesting and amusing, and it was a really fun read I couldn’t put down! Would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting a feel-good story about friends, family, and community, or anyone interested in stories involving Shakespeare and theatre.

[Don Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susie Donkin (Horrible Histories, Zues Is A Dick) is back, this time tackling The Bard himself – William Shakespear.

The Good, The Bard, and The Ugly starts with a death. Imogen, our protagonist, receives a letter from her grandfather Stan informing her of the death of her grandmother Brenda. Imogen herself was mostly raised by Brenda and Stan, so she was very close to them and it readily apparent that her attempts at becoming famous in the field of drama are down to her upbringing.

Brenda and Stan rent an apartment in a building which is also used as a theater and community center…. kind of. Brenda was also essentially in charge of putting on shows with the “Tin men”. On her death however it is revealed that this building will now be knocked down leaving her Stan homeless, and no theater for the community. In order to save it Imogen steps in, and with the help of 14 others, will stage a show to save the theater.

What happens after this is essentially where all the humour lies. In trying to decide which Shakespeare play to perform members of the group tell each other the story of various plays – Romeo and Juliette, King Lear, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Macbeth, and Hamlet. It probably doesn’t need to be said, but there are spoilers galore for those who haven’t read them (I’ve only read two of them and that was over 20 years ago!) – watching the films doesn’t count (they discuss this).

So, it’s 15 people sitting around talking about Shakespeare and how to put on a play – but in a funny way. My description does not do it justice – this is a brilliantly fun book. While it isn’t a long read I would say it is about the right length for the joke not to get stale. Recommended, but if you don’t like swearing steer clear.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun and learned something new. Bix perplexed when i read about spoilers as some of the stories are nearly 500 years old so not the author's fault
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Rose Cavanagh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imogen returns home for her Gran’s funeral then becomes caught up in saving the local theatre by directing a Shakespearean play. Each chapter is a recollection of the popular Bard’s plays, which will they choose? Will it all come together - yes, with a twist. A good short comedic read.

[Rosie Lannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a sweet and lighthearted book! I loved the quirky characters (especially Bianca) and the way each play looked at was made to feel accessible and funny.

[Shaanzeh Nadeem · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light, entertaining story. It reads almost like a Hallmark film. Some interesting insights into Shakespeare’s plays complete with the most unhinged plot summaries.

[Pam Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review:⭐⭐⭐⭐

This has evocative retellings of a select number of Shakespeare's plays. It gave me a lot of insight into the stories, and has some modern day explanations.

I found the book to be entertaining, and I enjoyed the way things in the plays affected the acting group!

This is a heart warming story, with some self discovery and a lot of Shakespeare!

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Hodder & Stoughton.

[Rachel Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the motley cast of characters of this Cornish town who worked together to save the old theatre. However, I found this a clunky way of shoehorning Shakespeare plays into an otherwise thin narrative. Too many cliches, this fell flat for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.