ENDORSEMENTS FOR THE SHAKESPEARE RETOLD SERIES

“Tackling Hamlet for The Royal Shakespeare Company is arguably the most daunting role for any actor. For me, learning the words was the easy part; interpreting the nuances of the language and breathing life into the performance was brutally tough.

The Shakespeare Retold series would have helped me immensely. For every line, I’d have had a lyrically identical modern-day translation that I precisely understood, helping reveal the emphasis and punch of each moment of my stage performance. Every actor would benefit from these compelling translations.”

— PAAPA ESSIEDU, ACTOR
Played Hamlet for The Royal Shakespeare Company

“James Anthony has done something I would have confidently stated to be impossible. He has ‘translated’ Shakespeare’s sonnets and he has done so with an insolent, loveable charm. You would imagine that anyone with the hubris or chutzpah to embark on such a project, daring to fly so close to the English language’s poetic sun, would plummet Icarus-like into the sea. Actually, he has ascended the brightest heaven of invention.

This reinterpretation of the cycle is a dazzling success. Reading the originals and Anthony’s versions side by side enriches both to a remarkable degree. I thought I knew Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets too well to need anyone to gloss or simplify them, but I was quite wrong. The complex, beautiful, disturbing, ambiguous and beguiling thoughts that Shakespeare compresses into his sonnets are worked by Anthony into the same exacting and rewarding fourteen line form but with an ease and fluency that makes you count the syllables to check he hasn’t been cheating.

Aside from the pleasure any reader can derive from this achievement, schools and colleges will stamp and cheer with unrestrained gratitude and delight.”

— STEPHEN FRY, ACTOR & WRITER
Played Malvolio for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

“I can think of no greater gift to the student of the English language or of Theatre, Drama and Acting than to work with the Bard’s words; and no better way to approach them and help them unlock their hidden gems than through James Anthony’s Shakespeare, Retold ‘translations.’ 

“Not only do they faithfully match the rhythms and nuances of meaning in the originals, but they truly dismantle the language barrier today’s students face. 

“They will become the vital resource for the Shakespeare ‘scholar’ in us all.”

— DAVID NORRELL
Teacher, Actor, Director, Writer.