Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802135773
• ISBN13: 9780802135773
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

The Bard would be Proud

I love, love, LOVE this play. It is wrought with the same care and cleverness of the Bard Himself. It is a Cinderella story with a feminist twist, with oodles of authentic Shakespeare woven right in. It borrows from the best of Shakespeare's comedy, complete with a breeches role. Every single character is absolutely hilarious and drawn with a deft hand. Fabulous.

A Fantastic Read!

I love this play! I would love to have my students perform it, but alas there are one or two pages that are a little too suggestive for the innocents in our cohort. I actually enjoyed this play more than I enjoyed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. It is witty and clever with just enough tongue-in-cheek.

THE MASSACRE OF SHAKESPERE DONE RIGHT

Just finished a production of this at our school - absolutely halarious. Very, very much recommended for high school theater. Absolutely great

ABSOLUTELY PEE-YOUR-PANTS FUNNY

"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!

This book is 100% pure genius!

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!