#HappyBirthdayShakespeare - Discover THE PLAYERS for 99p!
Hello, everyone!
And happy birthday to one of my absolute favourite writers, William Shakespeare! What a legacy he left behind!
Did you know?
Shakespeare was born somewhere on or around 23rd April 1564 (no-one knows the exact date as it wasn’t recorded)
Shakespeare’s first printed works were poems - 'Venus and Adonis' (1593) and 'The Rape of Lucrece' (1594).
He also wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets.
He was a founding member of a theatre company called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and regularly wrote plays for them to perform.
William Shakespeare had a brother called Edmund, who was 16 years younger than him. Edmund followed in his brother’s footsteps and also went to London to become an actor.
Shakespeare has been a huge inspiration to me. I’d never really come across his work until I was 15 years old, when we studied A Midsummer Night’s Dream at school. Our English teacher was fond of drama and so instead of just reading the play, we acted it, too – just how Shakespeare intended it to be experienced. This really brought the writing alive to me. I loved the colour, the rhythm, the characters, the humour… There is something so timeless and universal about the themes, characterisation, and Shakespeare’s observations on humanity.
When I had the idea of writing about a troupe of strolling players, I wanted to set it in a period where women could freely perform on the stage (women weren’t allowed in Shakespeare’s time). I decided on the 18th Century, and was absolutely thrilled when my research showed that Shakespeare plays were still really popular, especially Macbeth and Hamlet. They could always be guaranteed to pull a crowd, so many troupes of players relied on Shakespeare to fill the coffers.
I really enjoy making Shakespeare accessible, and loved referencing the plays throughout my novel in fun and surprising ways. As the Historical Novel Society said in their review of Players: “The bard himself is deftly woven in throughout.”
To celebrate the Shakespeare’s birthday on April 23rd, I’m offering the ebook of THE PLAYERS ACT 1: ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE for just 99p! You can buy a copy at any of the retailers listed here
It’s also available as a regular-priced paperback via Amazon or can be ordered via your local bookshop.
A reminder of what the book is about:
1715. A company of struggling actors have one last chance to save their theatre company. But they’ve lost their stage, still haven’t got a skull for Hamlet, and an ex-member is hunting them down with a spot of revenge on his mind…
Expect:
* Light historical fiction with comedy & tragedy
* Found family
* Siblings & swordfights
* Hope, heart & healing
* Neurodiverse, LGBTQ+ & working class characters
If you’d like to find out a bit more about Shakespeare, you can check out:
Thank you, as always, for your support. It means a lot!
Amy