The Book of Will

Where Would We Be Without Shakespeare’s Words?

“It is, quite frankly, one of the best plays I have ever seen. It will bring tears of both laughter and sorrow to all but the most jaded audience member’s eyes. It is, in a word, a triumph.” —Boulder Weekly (CO)

Production Photos

Set in Elizabethan England, three years following William Shakespeare’s death, The King’s Men are outraged that their friend and mentor’s brilliant plays are being pirated and wretchedly performed. The acting troupe is horrified when they learn through a shocking loss just how much of Shakespeare’s words are kept in memory rather than in writing. To honor “The Bard,” they become determined to preserve the work and commit to printing it all in one volume before it is lost forever.

First, however, they must find the plays – all 36 of them! The company’s scribe has a few scripts, and some unreliable copies of plays linger, but mostly, unbound, scripted pages have to be collected from dusty cupboards, burned buildings and those who hold the publishing rights.

Friends, family and former rivals band together to overcome the obstacles posed by death, debt, destruction, an unscrupulous printer, and time in this “wild goose chase” – a true story that will raise a new curtain on Shakespeare’s works and what it took to preserve his legacy in The First Folio.