Guest post written by author Jessica Martin
Jessica Martin is the author of The Bard Rest’s Romances, a series of pun-filled rom-coms set in the fictional town of Bard’s Rest, New Hampshire, a small town that takes their love of all things Shakespeare to another level. Her second in the series, The Dane of My Existence, is out on July 4, 2023, from Penguin Random House.
Having just launched my second Shakespearean-drenched novel, I’ll cop to my most ardent love of William Shakespeare. But let’s face it; nobody wants to drag his complete works to the beach. In addition to some of the plot lines and characters being problematic and occasionally downright dreary, it’s just logistically impractical to lug that thing around unless you’re looking for extra beach blanket weight. Instead, here are five retellings to shake up your summer and keep your brain lit:
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
The scoop: A tight-knew crew of college thespians put on Shakespeare, go a bit mad and one of their own ends up dead during a production of—you guessed it—Macbeth.
Why it deserves a spot in your beach tote: This tale of friendships, relationships, jealousy and the all-consuming conviction of youth that goes horribly awry stays with you long after the curtain falls.
The Dead Father’s Club by Matt Haig
The scoop: Hamlet retold through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy who is visited by the ghost of his dearly departed Dad and must save his mother and their family pub from his murderous uncle.
Why it deserves a spot in your beach tote: Dead parents aside, this one is surprisingly funny and wonderfully weird, as told through the lens of an eleven-year-old. I’m giving this one props for a slightly better ending than the original that still feels earned.
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
The scoop: Disgraced director accepts a teaching gig at a prison, stages his long-overdue production of The Tempest and sets in motion a revenge plot against those who wronged him.
Why it deserves a spot in your beach tote: Choosing a favorite among the Hogarth Shakespeare series is hard. When Hogarth Press decided to bring Shakespearean retellings to a modern audience, they enlisted a powerhouse line-up of authors: Anne Tyler, Tracy Chevalier, Jo Nesbø and Jeanette Winterson, but it’s Atwood’s dark, off-kilter revenge tale in the claustrophobic confines of a prison that ends in a literal storm that grabs the Bard’s original material by the throat and shakes it.
I, Iago by Nicole Galland
The scoop: The tragedy of Othello as told through the eyes of the villain who set the wheels in motion.
Why it deserves a spot in your beach tote: Everyone loves a good villain, and who can resist Shakespeare’s immortal Iago? Galland nails the turn of the worm here, an idealistic Iago who can’t get past his misguided convictions even when it brings about ruin to his beloved Venice and the people he loves most.
The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton
The pitch: The declining kingdom of Innis Lear desperately needs a new ruler and the three daughters of the current waning king go to war in an epic retelling of King Lear.
Why it deserves a spot in your beach tote: It’s bloody, good fun full of wild magic and world-building. Be prepared for an investment, the one’s not short (and I opted for the atmospheric audio version), but the journey of these characters and their unraveling through their fatal flaws is worth it if you like your tragedy on the grand scale.
