Shakespeare and the Countess
The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize
One of the Telegraph's 'Best Books of 2014'
'A gripping tale that enables us to see Shakespeare in a new light...I could not recommend it highly enough.' Alison Weir
In November 1596 a woman signed a document which would nearly destroy the career of William Shakespeare . . .
Who was the woman who played such an instrumental, yet little known, role in Shakespeare's life?
Never far from controversy when she was alive - she sparked numerous riots and indulged in acts of bribery, breaking-and-entering, and kidnapping - Elizabeth Russell has been edited out of public memory, yet the chain of events she set in motion would be the making of Shakespeare as we all know him today.
Providing new pieces to the puzzle, Chris Laoutaris's thrilling biography reveals for the first time the life of this extraordinary woman, and why she decided to wage her battle against Shakespeare.
'A splendid and original book' Sunday Telegraph
'A work of historical and literary detection which takes us straight to the heart of religious politics in Elizabethan England.' Frances Wilson, New Statesman
'I'm in love with the brilliant research on display in Shakespeare and the Countess by Christopher Laoutaris and how it brings to light Lady Elizabeth Russell, a force to be reckoned with and a trailblazing early feminist.' Amma Asante, Observer (Books of the Year)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
While Shakespeare serves as this book's headline attraction, it is the ambitious, crafty, and eagerly litigious Elizabeth Russell who takes center stage in this power struggle-filled Elizabethan drama. Shakespeare scholar Laoutaris (Shakespearean Maternities) clearly respects Russell's ability to outmaneuver her well-heeled enemies as he fleshes out her decades of property acquisitions and continual pressure on high-ranking members of her extended Cecil and Bacon families. The self-proclaimed countess threatened Shakespeare's livelihood with her suit against "London's first permanent playhouse, the Theatre," near her home, but her opposition inadvertently resulted in the creation of the famous Globe Theatre, which secured the Bard's legacy. While Russell's voice is heard strongly through letters and legal documents, Shakespeare's opinion on the war over the Blackfriars property appears largely in the book's last third, primarily through Laoutaris's reading of his plays. That results in some tenuous threads though others are much firmer linking his opponents to various characters, including the notable Falstaff. As Laoutaris shows, Russell a "staunch Puritan," funerary monument designer, and the only female sheriff in Elizabethan England was worthy of starring in a Shakespearean drama. 16 pages b&w illus.
