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"the
English teacher's most important ally yet"
"accessible story-telling makes for a very popular history
series" |
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In Search of Shakespeare
by Michael Wood |
With his typical mixture of
intensive research, detective work, boyish enthusiasm and popular appeal,
television historian Michael Wood comes closer than anyone to bringing the
Bard to life. There are some astonishing discoveries along the way, which
help to give a documentary cohesion to Shakespeare's story. But Wood is
never arrogant enough to claim to have pinned the playwright's character
down. The ifs, buts and maybes are all part of the fascination. The man
himself remains tantalisingly just out of reach, which is probably as it
should be.
Wood takes us on a journey through Elizabethan
and Jacobean England, building a picture through
painstaking reference to the age: a police state in which
Shakespeare's family was devastated by the persecution of Catholics.
Social, familial and political influences are all unravelled and pieced
together, counter-pointed with scenes from the plays - RSC actors
conveniently to hand - and the life and times of the travelling actor and
playwright are evoked in front of our eyes, becoming tangible and
relevant.
Wood gives us the chance to consider the plays in context, products of
a great mind living in interesting times, rather than in academic
isolation. It's a compelling tale, full of bloody danger, sex, celebrity
and social history, and densely packed with layers of detail. Wood's great
gift is to tell it in such an accessible way and without the sense of
superiority that some of his peers bring to popular history.
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