‘The Book of Will’: Shakespeare Lives On

Lauren Gunderson play is set after Shakespeare’s death and centers on the creation of the First Folio by John Heminges and Henry Condell.

Henry Condell (Ben Veatch, L) and John Heminges (Jared Dennis) decide to gather and publish Shakespeare's plays before it's too late, in "The Book of Will." Stephen Townshend/Distant Era

CHICAGO—Imagine the world without “A wild goose chase” (“Romeo and Juliet”), “All that glisters is not gold” (“The Merchant of Venice”), “Wear your heart on your sleeve” (“Othello”), “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” (“Hamlet”), and “the milk of human kindness” (“Macbeth”). Those phrases and and so much more of William Shakespeare’s literary genius would have been lost if not for the devotion of two friends, who saved the great playwright’s works. That’s the story that is lovingly told in “The Book of Will,” now a stellar production by the Promethean Theatre Ensemble at the Den Theatre in Chicago.

Written by Lauren Gunderson and first mounted in 2017, “The Book of Will” is set in London three years after the death of Shakespeare (1564–1616). The play centers on the creation of the First Folio by John Heminges (Jared Dennis) and Henry Condell (Ben Veatch), who compiled a published collection of Shakespeare’s works.