Shakespeare's Will

By Vern Thiessen

An exploration of one of the most silent characters in history: Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare.

The play sheds light on unexplored aspects of Hathaway's life by looking through the eyes and heart of the woman who spent a lifetime with—and without—the great poet. This work is the celebration of a life unbowed by tragedy and unapologetic in the face of public scorn.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9780369103260

Vern Thiessen

Vern Thiessen is one of Canada’s most produced playwrights. His plays have been translated into five languages and have been seen around the world. Vern is the recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore and Elizabeth Sterling Haynes awards for Outstanding New Play, the Carol Bolt Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, Canada’s highest honour for a playwright. He has served as president of both the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta and was artistic director of Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre for six seasons. He is married to acclaimed screenwriter and novelist Susie Moloney.

Book preview

Cover page of the book is titled 'Shakespeare⁽s will by Vern Thiessen

Shakespeare’s Will is on a blue background. Two human figures are connected by dark lines. Vern Thiessen appears in white at bottom right.

“Shakespeare’s Will” appears in white on a grey background. At centre, two human figures are connected by dark lines.

Shakespeare’s Will

Vern Thiessen

Playwrights Canada Press

Toronto • Canada

Shakespeare’s Will © 2002, 2007 Vern Thiessen

PLAYWRIGHTS CANADA PRESS

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No part of this book, covered by the copyright herein, may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review, or by a license from Access Copyright,

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For professional or amateur production rights, please contact:

Kensington Literary Representation

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phone: [phone] email: [e-mail]

Playwrights Canada Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts and of the Province of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Creates for our publishing activities.

Four logos. One is for the Canada Council for the Arts, one is for the Government of Canada, another is for the Ontario Arts Council and the fourth is for the Ontario Media Development Corporation. The latter two organizations are agencies of the Ontario government.

Front cover image: Woman by the Sea by Sarah Brayer, aquatint, edition 22, 2001.

Production Editor: Michael Petrasek

Cover design: JLArt and Vern Thiessen

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Thiessen, Vern

Shakespeare’s will / Vern Thiessen. -- 2nd ed.

A play.

ISBN 978-0-88754-769-0

1. Hathaway, Anne, 1556?-1623--Drama. I Title.

PS8589.H4524S48 2007     C812’.54    C2007-906293-8

Second, revised edition: December 2007

Second printing: August 2011

Printed and bound in Canada by AGMV Marquis, Montreal

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Production History

Production Notes

Shakespeare’s Will

Postscript

The Will

Author’s Biography

No Book has yet been written

in praise of a woman who

let her husband & children

Starve or Suffer while she

Invented even the most useful

things, or wrote books,

or expressed herself in art,

or evolved philosophic systems.

—Anna Garlin Spencer

Love rests on no foundation.

It is an endless ocean,

with no beginning or end.

Imagine,

a suspended ocean,

riding on a cushion of ancient secrets.

All souls have drowned in it,

and now dwell there.

One drop of that ocean is hope,

and the rest is fear.

—Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi

I believe that what woman resents is not so

much giving herself in pieces as giving herself

purposelessly.

—Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Acknowledgements

It takes many people and organizations to help a playwright create, develop, and produce a new play. The playwright thanks the Free Will Players/River City Shakespeare Festival for commissioning the play. Thanks also to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Winspear Fund, the ATP/Banff playRites Colony 2004, Alberta Playwrights Network, the Lee Fund, Epic Theatre Ensemble, Metro Stage, Theatre 40, and the Citadel New Play Development program for assisting in the writing and development of this play.

Thanks must go to the following individuals for their inspiration, support, help and commitment to both myself and the project: Eden Philp, Ruth Dyckfehderau, Margaret Reed, Lisa O’Connell, Brian Dooley, John Kirkpatrick, John Murrell, David Brundage, James MacDonald, Maureen Labonté, Mark Haroun, Sharon Richardson, Holly Hoover, Vanessa Sabourin, Playwrights Canada Press, Seana McKenna, Miles Potter, Susan Bay Nimoy, Leonard Nimoy, JeanMarie Simpson, and Michael Petrasek.

Thanks also to Bob Baker for the risks he takes in nurturing and producing new plays, and to the Citadel Theatre audiences who have been