BOOK REVIEW: William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher

BOOK REVIEW: William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher
Random House Australia
April 2014, $22.99 rrp
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

Get thee once more to a galaxy far, far away – Ian Doescher is back with the second instalment of his Shakespearised Star Wars adaptions.

Sure to appeal only to ardent Star Wars geeks, this is none-the-less an incredible achievement: to transcribe the entire movie into the style of The Bard, complete with sonnets and choruses and authentic language must have been an arduous task, but it’s great fun to read through, matching the book to the film with the added laughs of imagining Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca et al on the stage of The Globe.

For every line of Yoda’s given extra gravitas in traditional style, R2D2 lightens the tone with such classic lines as ‘Nee, nee, beep, meep, beep, squeak, squeak, whistle, squeak!’, leading right up to the famous scene where Darth Vader drops a bombshell by telling Luke, mid-combat, ‘Luke, I am thy father!’

So is it a drama? A comedy? A history? A tragedy? It is all these things, which goes some way to explaining the enduring appeal of the Star Wars franchise in the first place. Doescher’s book is another worthy addition to the Star Wars Empire.

 

Category: Book Reviews