Michael Morpurgo, Tales from Shakespeare, HarperCollins Publishers, October 2023, 338 pp., RRP $37.90 (hbk), ISBN 9780008352226
As Benedict Cumberbatch points out in his introduction, there have been many adaptations of Shakespeare over the years, including other books that retell the stories, such as that by Charles and Mary Lamb. This one he says, is ten of Shakespeare’s best-known plays ‘all retold in an entertaining and exciting new way by master storyteller Michael Morpurgo’.
The 10 plays retold include selections from both Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies.
Michael Morpurgo says, of this collection: ‘Tell a cracking story, tell it well, and children will love to listen. So, I thought, tell the tales of Shakespeare your way, with pace and with passion.’ He goes on to say that knowing the plays of Shakespeare is a ‘birthright and a joy.’ Morpurgo has chosen some of his favourites such as Macbeth, Twelfth Night, King Lear and Hamlet.
Morpurgo’s words about a ‘cracking tale’ and children loving to listen seems to have been justified as his tales were recorded by actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company and were widely accessed especially during Covid when theatres were closed. Reading his tales aloud in a classroom or at home will work wonderfully well as the language is accessible, and, as always with Morpurgo, his writing is beautiful. This picture of King Lear is striking and moving; ‘separated from his friends in the gathering darkness, and lost, high on a wild and windswept heath, with no shelter – madness finally overwhelmed his mind. He stumbled on, wild as the storm around him.’ As a reader, we feel on occasions as if we are listening to other people’s conversations, or even hearing something that might have been said to us: he has King Oberon say to Puck ‘”Here’s what I want you to do, Puck – and please don’t mess up this time, there’s a good Puck”’. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
There is an afterword by the author in which he tells us he wanted to retell the tales in the language of today and that is exactly what he has done. His enthusiasm for Shakespeare’s stories shines throughout the book.
This is a beautifully presented book with each chapter (or Tale) illustrated by a different illustrator. It is a book to enjoy and to treasure and will, I’m sure, become just as much a classic of Shakespearean retellings as The Lambs’ one – the book that Morpurgo was given as a small boy and that was his first taste of Shakespearean plays.
Reviewed by Margot Hillel
