Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (Paperback)

by Ann-Marie MacDonald (Author) "Three vignettes played simultaneously..." (more)
Key Phrases: wise fool, Goodnight Desdemona, Professor Night, Claude Night (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
When ghostwriter Constance Ledbelly's mentor marries a rival, Constance embarks on a "what-if" writing spree that brings her face-to-face with literary characters Desdemona and Juliet. What follows is a riotous retelling of theatrical legend that brings Constance renewed self-confidence--and that won playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald awards and accolades.

From the Back Cover
In this exuberant comedy-and original revision of Shakespeare's Othello and Romeo and Juliet-Constance Ledbelly, a drab and dusty academic, deciphers a cryptic manuscript she believes to be the original source for the tragedies, and is transported into the plays themselves. She visits Juliet and Desdemona, has a hand in saving them, and finds out what these women are about. in true Shakespearean spirit, Constance plunders the plays and creates something new, all the while engaging in a personal voyage of self-discovery. With an abundance of twists, fights, dances, seductions and wild surprises, the play is an absolute joy of theatricality-not surprisingly, considering the author who created it.

Winner of the Governor General's Award for Drama
Clever, pointed and entertaining. . . . This play is one of the wildest and woolliest feminist reappraisals that theatre has seen, and one of the most intellectually ambitious."-Toronto Globe and Mail

"Imagine a collaboration among Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen, and you have the essence of Goodnight Desdemona."-The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)

"In Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) the playfulness is the thing."-San Francisco Chronicle

"Delightful, often hilarious . . . MacDonald doesn't miss a trick, scattering satirical observations on love and sex, scholarship and the Bard like birdseed, while taking full advantage of the slapstick possibilities in Shakespearean cross-dressing."-The Washington Post

MacDonald's influences may be apparent, but the charm is her own."-Variety

"Stratford-upon-Acid: that's where MacDonald's dizzying Goodnight Desdemona lives. . . . MacDonald traipses through the canon with glee. . . . Lots of clever fun."-The Village Voice

Ann-Marie MacDonald is one of Canada's leading dramatists and is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Fall on Your Knees

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (September 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802135773
• ISBN-13: 978-0802135773
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #312,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Canadian
  #34 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > British & Irish > Contemporary

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is 100% pure genius!, August 19, 1999

By	Karen (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

From all the non-musical plays I've heard, seen, or read, this play is the most inventive, most creative, most hilarious play I've ever read. Macdonald's unexpected twists and turns of Shakespeare's OTHELLO and ROMEO AND JULIET made me howl with laughter almost all the way through. Act I is a bit bland, but understanding that Macdonald wanted to set the whole story as to what would come ahead. But when Acts II and III come along, you'll howl with laughter when you see lots of sex jokes, cross dressing, and straight madness. I would compare it to Japanese anime's RANMA 1/2, to anyone who is familiar with it. I don't want to spoil the story, so I won't type a synopsis, but I will tell you, don't pass this play up because you won't know what you're missing!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY PEE-YOUR-PANTS FUNNY, October 25, 2001

By	"papayabanana" (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

"Goodnight, Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet)" is the funniest play I have ever read or seen. I am currently playing Constance in a high school production of the play, and the more we go along, the more we discover about the play. Upon first reading, it is an absolutely hilarious twist of Shakespeare's "Othello" and "Romeo and Juliet." But reading it a second, and even a third time will reveal subtle innuendos and wordings (warning: LOTS of sexual innuendos in this play!) that contain so much wit and humour that your respect for Anne-Marie MacDonald will grow with every scene. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you can familiarize yourself with the plots of both "Othello" and "Romeo and Juliet" before reading or seeing the play, then your enjoyment will increase, because you will have a basic understanding of how the characters have been re-interpreted. OH MY GOODNESS -- READ THIS PLAY!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just High School Theater, January 6, 2005

By	D. J. Cole (Morgantown, WV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Two reviewers from HS drama clubs, and one comparison to Japanese anime. Don't let that mislead you into thinking this is some lightweight juvenile fluff. It is more in the line of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. As someone who has loved reading and watching Shakespeare's plays for over 35 years, I am delighted to see Ann-Marie MacDonald not only play with Shakespeare but do it intelligently. Amidst the linguistic and theatric whimsey there are some true and serious observations and the best explanation yet of why some characters in Shakespeare's tragedys are such idiots. Who says learning can't be great fun?