HAMLET'S DRESSER

In this extraordinary memoir of a life saved by great art, the language and ideas of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets weave in and out of Smith’s life in a way that could only be performed by a gifted scholar and actor. At the same time, only the author (who first dressed Hamlet at the Stratford, Connecticut, Shakespeare Festival when he was 18) could give us the exact intonation with which his terribly retarded younger sister sang “Bobby, Bobby…” throughout his childhood, or his demoralized mother called to him a thousand times, “Remember to wipe her good.” Bob Smith writes and reads like a dream. There’s not a false note, written or spoken, in this complicated story; this easily hits my top 10 list of best audiobooks ever made. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]