Shakespearean Afterlifes: Ten Characters with a Life of Their Own

"Reading a script and not wanting to see it acted is, for me, like reading a recipe for apple pie and being reluctant to cook the dish because the reality can never match the platonic pie that exists in our imaginations." This is the umpteenth quote in this book that made me "Ha!" in agreement and surprise. John O'Connor has woven a study of ten of Shakespeare's characters as they have been percieved in performance and criticism since they were created and have now become icons and major pop-culture references. While at times a tad tangental, O'Connor makes his case clearly and with a wide range of examples from interviews with RSC greats or accounts of performances during the Restoration, to "ripped from the headlines" examples or vivid descriptions of filmic interpretation. He understands what it is to read, see, and perform Shakespeare in the modern day. His study is both rational and humorous and would, I hope, be embraced by both actors and scholars of Shakespeare's characters.