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Will and Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life
William Shakespeare has always been part of Dominic Dromgoole's life. Here he recounts the story of his life through Shakespeare, and in turn shows us what Shakespeare can tell us about the world. In this freewheeling and passionate exploration of Shakespeare the artist, the man, the playwright, and the genius, Dromgoole explores why it is that he can enter our lives with such force and teach us so much about living.
Using his own encounters as a guide, Dromgoole shows how Shakespeare's words on war, love, death, drunkenness, family, friendship, and everything else reveal us to ourselves. This is the true nature of Shakespeare, a godhead of comic, sexual, sublime humanism, whose plays and characters have become a universal gateway to an understanding of the world.
A passionate Shakespearean practically since birth, Dominic Dromgoole is the new artistic director for the Globe Theatre, the playhouse Shakespeare made famous. He is a columnist for the Guardian and a regular contributor to The Sunday Times. His first book, The Full Room, was one of the most controversial and successful theater books in England of the last few years.
Using his own encounters as a guide, Dromgoole shows how Shakespeare's words on war, love, death, drunkenness, family, friendship, and everything else reveal us to ourselves. This is the true nature of Shakespeare, a godhead of comic, sexual, sublime humanism, whose plays and characters have become a universal gateway to an understanding of the world.
A passionate Shakespearean practically since birth, Dominic Dromgoole is the new artistic director for the Globe Theatre, the playhouse Shakespeare made famous. He is a columnist for the Guardian and a regular contributor to The Sunday Times. His first book, The Full Room, was one of the most controversial and successful theater books in England of the last few years.
293 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 18, 2020
Dominic takes us through his life with Shakespeare the highs and lows. He was introduced by acting parents at an early age and he ends up making a career as a director of Shakespeare plays so Shakespeare definitely played a big role.
One of the highlights is that the author makes fun of his own failures as an actor and director despite a successful career in theater. His modesty is refreshing compared to many of the people who write about WS.
I especially enjoyed Dominic's journey of walking from Stratford to London to relive what he believes may have been Shakespeare's original walk to London. His theory is that Shakespeare would not have had enough money to get there any other way so he and his friends wanted to see what that walk may have been like.
The book comes across a little more like a collection of essays about his life with Shakespeare plays and because of that it has some hits and misses but overall I really enjoyed it.
One of the highlights is that the author makes fun of his own failures as an actor and director despite a successful career in theater. His modesty is refreshing compared to many of the people who write about WS.
I especially enjoyed Dominic's journey of walking from Stratford to London to relive what he believes may have been Shakespeare's original walk to London. His theory is that Shakespeare would not have had enough money to get there any other way so he and his friends wanted to see what that walk may have been like.
The book comes across a little more like a collection of essays about his life with Shakespeare plays and because of that it has some hits and misses but overall I really enjoyed it.
February 20, 2020
Made some notes about this in 2006, when I read it.
The book is littered with swear words, and every so often he throws sex or atheism in your face, a bit like an adolescent with something to prove. However, his ability to incorporate Shakespeare into his story and show how the great man kept him sane and helped him become a real human being is good, and certainly makes you want to go back and read Shakespeare again…and again. And to memorise more of it. And to see the plays.
It makes you see too that Shakespeare invented the greatest characters in drama on a regular basis: not just the well-known ones, but all the others. Dromgoole claims that every character in Shakespeare lives and breathes – that might be a bit of an exaggeration when it comes to the tiny messengers and what have you – but it is true for the most part. And the other thing he says is that you need to take the plays as they are, the speeches, the characters. Don’t try and analyse them; take them as they are and get deep into them. Let them be what they are – and the best way to do this is to memorise stuff – and then what’s being said will come across clearly.
The book is littered with swear words, and every so often he throws sex or atheism in your face, a bit like an adolescent with something to prove. However, his ability to incorporate Shakespeare into his story and show how the great man kept him sane and helped him become a real human being is good, and certainly makes you want to go back and read Shakespeare again…and again. And to memorise more of it. And to see the plays.
It makes you see too that Shakespeare invented the greatest characters in drama on a regular basis: not just the well-known ones, but all the others. Dromgoole claims that every character in Shakespeare lives and breathes – that might be a bit of an exaggeration when it comes to the tiny messengers and what have you – but it is true for the most part. And the other thing he says is that you need to take the plays as they are, the speeches, the characters. Don’t try and analyse them; take them as they are and get deep into them. Let them be what they are – and the best way to do this is to memorise stuff – and then what’s being said will come across clearly.
September 26, 2015
Delightful, and in no way what I was expecting. Perhaps, after having read others like Michael Bogdanov, I was expecting Dromgoole's directorial beliefs on the Bard, neatly divided into chapters. Or perhaps, in the manner of Bill Bryson, I was expecting a structured-then-rambling discussion of our relationship to Shakespeare. Instead, I got neither. And I was disappointed for about eight pages before I gave in, and realised this is a book I cherish.
"Will & Me" is best described as a sort of commonplace book, filled with the author's reminiscences (often brutally frank) about his parents, his childhood, his society, his social leanings, education, and career. These are joined by tangents on every aspect of Shakespeare, academically and theatrically, romantically and personally. It can be a dense read sometimes, as what appears to be a chapter on one subject quickly encompasses four or five others. Dromgoole is also a witty and cultured fellow, so the mind has to be sharp to enjoy. All of which is to say, I'll be dipping back into the author's thoughts from time to time for years to come, I suspect. The book's structure (or lack of) means that I'm not about to promote this as one of the "best books" on Shakespeare out there. But for those of us who share a lifelong connection to the big guy from Stratford, this makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of great material covering what the blurb suggests: how Shakespeare's work (and theatre and poetry in general) can affect, and draw from, life's greatest ups and downs. But the important thing about "Will & Me" is encapsulated in the final section, a sort of journal entry covering a multi-day walk the author took with friends through the land of Shakespeare's youth. As the men ramble on about academic theories, Dromgoole is drawn to thinking about the life Shakespeare must have come from, must have seen around him, must have led. And in this we discover essential truths about the genius himself, and his work, that I'm glad to have encountered.
"Will & Me" is best described as a sort of commonplace book, filled with the author's reminiscences (often brutally frank) about his parents, his childhood, his society, his social leanings, education, and career. These are joined by tangents on every aspect of Shakespeare, academically and theatrically, romantically and personally. It can be a dense read sometimes, as what appears to be a chapter on one subject quickly encompasses four or five others. Dromgoole is also a witty and cultured fellow, so the mind has to be sharp to enjoy. All of which is to say, I'll be dipping back into the author's thoughts from time to time for years to come, I suspect. The book's structure (or lack of) means that I'm not about to promote this as one of the "best books" on Shakespeare out there. But for those of us who share a lifelong connection to the big guy from Stratford, this makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of great material covering what the blurb suggests: how Shakespeare's work (and theatre and poetry in general) can affect, and draw from, life's greatest ups and downs. But the important thing about "Will & Me" is encapsulated in the final section, a sort of journal entry covering a multi-day walk the author took with friends through the land of Shakespeare's youth. As the men ramble on about academic theories, Dromgoole is drawn to thinking about the life Shakespeare must have come from, must have seen around him, must have led. And in this we discover essential truths about the genius himself, and his work, that I'm glad to have encountered.
May 2, 2015
Anyone who has attended last-night performances at the Shakespeare's Globe theatre will have seen artistic director Dominic Dromgoole bounding on to the stage and, in his words, "spreading the love and joy a little wider than usual." Having been to many such "last nights" over the last decade, I could immediately hear the authentic Dromgoole voice in these pages - shambling gait, shaggy-dog charm, and an utterly boundless enthusiasm for the Bard. Dromgoole has not only dedicated vast parts of his professional career to Shakespeare, from his earliest days as an actor-director in the rural Southwest all the way to his super-successful stint as the Globe's AD, now sadly coming to an end; on the evidence of this book, the Bard has also been a constant guiding light in his personal life, nourishing and enhancing it at moments large and small.
The style of the book is conversational, often jokey and slangy, sometimes very funny, occasionally glib and repetitive. The one thing you cannot get away from though is passion - Dromgoole's genuine and enduring love for the man without whom English literature, language and culture are all but unthinkable. True, he has his own idiosyncratic take on Shakespeare, much argued over in the last section of the book called "The Walk", but the average reader cannot help but learn much from the accumulated insights of a lifetime devoted to reading and thinking about Shakespeare, not to mention producing and directing much of the canon. I have yet to read Bill Bryson's noted tome on the Bard, but I can already see that it would take some doing to top Dromgoole's populist, perceptive love letter.
The style of the book is conversational, often jokey and slangy, sometimes very funny, occasionally glib and repetitive. The one thing you cannot get away from though is passion - Dromgoole's genuine and enduring love for the man without whom English literature, language and culture are all but unthinkable. True, he has his own idiosyncratic take on Shakespeare, much argued over in the last section of the book called "The Walk", but the average reader cannot help but learn much from the accumulated insights of a lifetime devoted to reading and thinking about Shakespeare, not to mention producing and directing much of the canon. I have yet to read Bill Bryson's noted tome on the Bard, but I can already see that it would take some doing to top Dromgoole's populist, perceptive love letter.
September 7, 2008
So far, not so bad, yet not as good as I imagined it to be. All the writing about Will is really good: miles away from everything you've already read about Shakespeare, presenting him as a punk rock rebel the rest of the English-speaking world refuses to understand, and some deft insights into the rest of the world. The Me parts are less engaging, as they all seem to have the self-depricating ring to them, the 'what a wonderfully naive twit I was' humour which may win over the Little England crowd. Perhaps it is the stark contrast of comparing yourself to the most recognisable name, yet the most elusive personality, that makes all your life's effort seem silly. It would be better if Dromgoole showed a bit more modest pride in his work - you've somehow manage to publish a book that isn't half bad, so quit being so hard on yourself, Dom. Quite an impress trek you made at the end, that was the book's beginning. Also liked how quotes from Shakespeare and other did not need to be referenced with scenes and line numbers, but just allowed to be great quotes.
July 10, 2014
This is the best memoir I have ever read, and it will be damn near impossible to top. While reading it, I heard a man speaking from the pages, not an author. It was often hilarious. It was relatable. He is completely unashamed to share everything: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the delightful. It's relatable and intellectually intriguing. Maybe my enthusiasm has to do with my own struggle and worries about trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing. Maybe I won't appreciate it as much when I'm 73 or 32 instead of 23. I don't know, but I love it now.
July 24, 2017
Superb, I thought. Contains more real revelations about Shakespeare, page for page, than any plodding, repetitive Harold Bloom book does. The book was so good that I was willing to follow him into the very different last section, "The Walk"--a risk in structure that paid off. I happened to pick this off a library shelf, never having heard of the man. What he has to tell you about plays you might know very well indeed is bracing and true.
October 15, 2010
Although it’s billed as a memoir and structured in a very loose way around some life experiences of its author, this rather wonderful book by Dominic Dromgoole, currently the Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre, is really more of a livre de pensees about William Shakespeare and why he matters. In a series of short anecdotal chapters, Dromgoole examines why it is that Shakespeare and his work have endured so integrally and immediately in countries all over the world – even in the most repressive societies, his work is impregnable, impervious to censorship (“it would be like banning music”), and provides a crucial, unassailable voice for the rebel and the disenfranchised against tyrants and corrupted leadership – and why they are still the ultimate touchstone not only for our cultural identity, but for our understanding of the world and its workings and ultimately of our own flawed and beautiful humanity. Dromgoole’s relationship with the Bard as a reader, actor and director is deeply personal and strongly opinionated, and he can at times get just a bit up himself, as the British like to say, but by and large the opinions and theories he puts forward are backed up by careful thought, personal experience, and an ability to recognize an emotional truth when he feels one. In many cases he articulates beautifully and forcefully (to say the least) what many of us who work in theatre also feel to be so – for example:
“The sickness in English Shakespeare production, and in English theatre, is where a director chooses a style for a play and then relentlessly forces everything to fit. Find a world for the play and make it consistent, these halfwits spout. It is the revenge of the stupid on the beautiful. If you look at the world around you, you see no consistent style, no uniformity. People can be a bit two-dimensional; some can be complex; some are cut in an antique mould; some are loose and modern. If I look at a theatre audience, I see a teeming confusion of styles and types all co-existing together. So why present them with a life less interesting than their own? The world is not consistent. Why should the theatre be? Shakespeare understood this more than any other…He invited everyone to the party: he didn’t try to create a salon for like-minded types…He mixes and matches. A good production will play each strain as it is. A bad one will try to make it all one.”
Voluble, often poetic and occasionally outrageous as only an Irishman in full spate can be, Dromgoole is a passionate, entertaining and intelligent companion, and I can’t do better than to leave you with this quotation from the introductory section of the book. If this makes you tear up, then this is a must-read for you!
“Wherever it is, whether in home, school, shop, workplace, yacht, airplane, or space rocket, The Complete Works has the most remarkable effect. It lends weight and ballast to its surroundings. It works like a benign bomb hurling out, not destruction, but invisible waves of laughter and wisdom and cultural and human value. It animates every object in its vicinity with an extra preciousness, and an extra worth…When I hear a bad, old-school actor bombasting his way through it, it sounds like lazy, stupid violence. When I hear an arrogant youth break it up into television mutters, it breaks my heart they are so many miles beneath what they are feigning to be above. But when it is spoken in a warm, steady, human voice, with accuracy and with love, then I feel at home again.”
“The sickness in English Shakespeare production, and in English theatre, is where a director chooses a style for a play and then relentlessly forces everything to fit. Find a world for the play and make it consistent, these halfwits spout. It is the revenge of the stupid on the beautiful. If you look at the world around you, you see no consistent style, no uniformity. People can be a bit two-dimensional; some can be complex; some are cut in an antique mould; some are loose and modern. If I look at a theatre audience, I see a teeming confusion of styles and types all co-existing together. So why present them with a life less interesting than their own? The world is not consistent. Why should the theatre be? Shakespeare understood this more than any other…He invited everyone to the party: he didn’t try to create a salon for like-minded types…He mixes and matches. A good production will play each strain as it is. A bad one will try to make it all one.”
Voluble, often poetic and occasionally outrageous as only an Irishman in full spate can be, Dromgoole is a passionate, entertaining and intelligent companion, and I can’t do better than to leave you with this quotation from the introductory section of the book. If this makes you tear up, then this is a must-read for you!
“Wherever it is, whether in home, school, shop, workplace, yacht, airplane, or space rocket, The Complete Works has the most remarkable effect. It lends weight and ballast to its surroundings. It works like a benign bomb hurling out, not destruction, but invisible waves of laughter and wisdom and cultural and human value. It animates every object in its vicinity with an extra preciousness, and an extra worth…When I hear a bad, old-school actor bombasting his way through it, it sounds like lazy, stupid violence. When I hear an arrogant youth break it up into television mutters, it breaks my heart they are so many miles beneath what they are feigning to be above. But when it is spoken in a warm, steady, human voice, with accuracy and with love, then I feel at home again.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2011
This book is a hard one for me to rate and review. While I found parts of it significantly more interesting than others, I enjoyed my time reading Dromgoole's memoir of his lifetime love affair with Shakespeare. I didn't agree with every interpretation or reading he offered, but I feel that is the point he arrives at by the book's conclusion. Shakespeare wrote plays that feel as relevant today as they did in Elizabethan London, but his original intentions, if he even had any, are not half as important as what each theatre-goer or worker lucky enough to come into contact with his plays carries with them when they walk away from them. I didn't feel inclined to devour this in one epic sitting, but the leisurely pace at which I read it, particularly "The Walk" section, added to my appreciation for the story he was telling. This book is best enjoyed by someone, like myself, who has their own personal love affair with Shakespeare, but anyone with a deep passion for literature of any kind will appreciate the intent and message.
October 26, 2013
I wasn't sure halfway through this book how I was going to rate it. Not that it wasn't an enjoyable read and in places highly insightful it was more the fact of how I place it in my library of Shakespeare books; where does it fit? In the final 100 pages the penny dropped and I realized it stands beside and cheek-to-cheek with Peter Brook's excellent book "The Quality of Mercy". The insights Dromgoole provides of Shakespeare and his works are from the unique perspective, that of the stage director. It dawned on me that all the books I have about WS are at times so far removed from the man and his works in an effort to bring some credibility to the main issue of WS...which is we actually know bugger all about him. Dromgoole as a director gets behind the words and adds feeling and insight based on a life-time (and as the book points out...it is a life-time) of constant rubbing shoulders with the works and the actors who try to bring his words to light and life. In getting to know WS ...he reminds us...we only need look in the mirror (Anthony Burgess)
December 29, 2014
แนวคิดในการเขียนหนังสือเล่มนี้ฟังดูน่าสนุก แต่อ่านจริงๆแล้วไม่สนุกเท่าไหร่ เพราะบริบทแวดล้อมเป็นอังกฤษมากๆ
ผู้เขียนเล่าถึงชีวิตตัวเองที่ผูกพันอยู่กับเชคสเปียร์ โดยตัดข้ามไปมาระหว่างบางแง่มุมในชีวิตเชคสเปียร์กับชีวิตของตัวเอง ในฐานะคนอ่านที่ไม่ได้คุ้นเคยกับเชคสเปียร์มากนัก ต้องบอกว่าบางทีก็งงว่าเขาพูดถึงอะไร อาทิเช่น อยู่ๆก็ขึ้นต้นเรื่องมาว่า เชคสเปียร์ผู้เกิดในดินแดนที่ไม่มีทะเลล้อมรอบ (หมายถึง Warwickshire ไม่ได้หมายถึงอังกฤษทั้งเกาะ) ทำไมถึงได้หมกมุ่นกับเรื่องเรือจมมากนัก ตัวเองไม่รู้หรอกว่าเมืองสแตรทฟอร์ดอพอนเอวอนนั้นอยู่ใน Warwickshire และไม่รู้ด้วยว่าเชคสเปียร์เขียนเรื่องที่มีเรือจมมากมายขนาดนั้น (รู้เพียงเรื่องพื้นๆที่ทุกคนรู้จัก เช่น แมคเบธ, โรมิโอและจูเลียต, ฝันกลางฤดูร้อน ฯลฯ) เวลาอ่านเลยค่อนข้างงง น่าจะเหมาะสำหรับคนที่มักคุ้นกับเชคสเปียร์แล้วเป็นอย่างดีมากกว่า
อีกอย่างหนึ่งก็คือ ชีวิตของผู้เขียนไม่ได้สนุกมาก แต่ก็ได้รับรู้ประวัติศาสตร์ต่างๆรายรอบเชคสเปียร์มากพอสมควร แต่ก็อย่างที่ว่า มันเป็นอังกฤษมากๆจนบางทีก็อ่านไม่รู้เรื่องว่าเขาพูดถึงอะไร
ผู้เขียนเล่าถึงชีวิตตัวเองที่ผูกพันอยู่กับเชคสเปียร์ โดยตัดข้ามไปมาระหว่างบางแง่มุมในชีวิตเชคสเปียร์กับชีวิตของตัวเอง ในฐานะคนอ่านที่ไม่ได้คุ้นเคยกับเชคสเปียร์มากนัก ต้องบอกว่าบางทีก็งงว่าเขาพูดถึงอะไร อาทิเช่น อยู่ๆก็ขึ้นต้นเรื่องมาว่า เชคสเปียร์ผู้เกิดในดินแดนที่ไม่มีทะเลล้อมรอบ (หมายถึง Warwickshire ไม่ได้หมายถึงอังกฤษทั้งเกาะ) ทำไมถึงได้หมกมุ่นกับเรื่องเรือจมมากนัก ตัวเองไม่รู้หรอกว่าเมืองสแตรทฟอร์ดอพอนเอวอนนั้นอยู่ใน Warwickshire และไม่รู้ด้วยว่าเชคสเปียร์เขียนเรื่องที่มีเรือจมมากมายขนาดนั้น (รู้เพียงเรื่องพื้นๆที่ทุกคนรู้จัก เช่น แมคเบธ, โรมิโอและจูเลียต, ฝันกลางฤดูร้อน ฯลฯ) เวลาอ่านเลยค่อนข้างงง น่าจะเหมาะสำหรับคนที่มักคุ้นกับเชคสเปียร์แล้วเป็นอย่างดีมากกว่า
อีกอย่างหนึ่งก็คือ ชีวิตของผู้เขียนไม่ได้สนุกมาก แต่ก็ได้รับรู้ประวัติศาสตร์ต่างๆรายรอบเชคสเปียร์มากพอสมควร แต่ก็อย่างที่ว่า มันเป็นอังกฤษมากๆจนบางทีก็อ่านไม่รู้เรื่องว่าเขาพูดถึงอะไร
April 18, 2009
Just about any 100 75 50 several pages of "Will and Me" are charming, interesting and fun to read. But it is much more about Dominic Dromgoole (currently artistic director of the Globe Theater) than anything else and Dominic Dromgoole isn't very interesting so one tires of it quickly.
August 20, 2012
I didn't much care for Dominic Dromgoole as told by himself, but fell for his passionate enthusiasm for the Bard. I did wonder how his career has been so successful when every account of his productions tell of disaster and incompetence. It would have been nice if he had added, even if only briefly, some of his successes.
July 24, 2008
Dominic Dromgoole is a proud Bardophile, and this tender, funny and engaging memoir is full of good information about Shakespeare and how we relate to him today. If my Bardbums website has a companion book this is it!
February 8, 2008
O' to read a book about the Bard,
'tis a pleasure for all who love.
'tis a pleasure for all who love.
November 11, 2011
this book wasn't just about Shakespeare but also about life! It taught me lots and inspired me greatly. I had a lovely summer with it!
May 27, 2013
4.5 stars.
May 27, 2015
An extraordinarily wonderful biography of both Dromgoole and Shakespeare. I'd genuinely recommend it to everyone - Shakespeare fan or no.
April 20, 2013
Fantastic book for the casual Shakespeare enthusiast.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews