William Shakespeare's Star Wars Explained
William Shakespeare's Star Wars is a series of plays by Ian Doescher that parody the style of William Shakespeare, with nine instalments adapting the films of the Skywalker Saga. The plays are written as Elizabethan tragedies, mixing blank verse poetry and stage scripts with Early Modern English stock characters and orthography. Sometimes Shakespeare is quoted, or rather, rewritten, like the following in William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope: “[Luke, holding stormtrooper helmet.] Alas, poor stormtrooper, I knew ye not,yet have I taken both uniform and lifeFrom thee. What manner of a man wert thou?A man of inf'nite jest or cruelty?A man with helpmate and with children too?A man who hath his Empire serv'd with pride? A man, perhaps, who wish'd for perfect peace?What'er thou wert, goodman, thy pardon grantUnto the one who took thy place: e'en me.”
The original trilogy
- William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope (2013)
- William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back: Star Wars Part the Fifth (2014)
- William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return: Star Wars Part the Sixth (2014)
All three volumes were subsequently released as William Shakespeare's Star Wars Trilogy: The Royal Box Set.
The prequel trilogy
- William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First (2015)
- William Shakespeare's The Clone Army Attacketh: Star Wars Part the Second (2015)
- William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge: Star Wars Part the Third (2015)
The sequel trilogy
- William Shakespeare's The Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh (2017)
- William Shakespeare's Jedi the Last: Star Wars Part the Eighth (2018)
- William Shakespeare’s The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth (2020)
See also
