A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

With so little known about Shakespeare's life, it is helpful to glean evidence from the plays themselves and the vast historical context in which they were performed. The year 1599, therefore, when Shakespeare was writing four of his greatest plays, becomes a truly watershed year. Lew Grenville reads carefully and deliberately, moving so cautiously from Shapiro's text to Shakespeare's that the listener easily distinguishes between text, history, and biography. Grenville does it in so dramatic a way the listener is able to mingle the power of Shakespeare's line with what is largely, after all, Shapiro's conjecture, without sacrificing the sense of either. Thus, Grenville's reading reinforces a careful balance between criticism and biography that does justice to both. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 06]