Willing: A Shakespearean Romp

Willing: A Shakespearean Romp is Brian d’Eon’s fourth novel. Its publication represents, in many ways, the culmination of Brian’s writing career. In 1998, Brian’s stage play Willful Pursuits debuted at Nelson’s Capitol Theatre. The play’s characters featured two barmaids, Shakespeare himself, and three of his drinking buddies. A sequel to this play followed ten years later. It seemed almost inevitable that Shakespeare would make an even more dramatic appearance in Brian’s fiction, as he does, in Willling.

The novel opens in the year 1613 as fire is consuming the bard’s beloved Globe Theatre. William is presumed lost in the fire but, miraculously, he wakes up, flat on his back, on the grass in Nelson’s Lakeside Park. Only now, the year is 1999, and William is suffering from amnesia. He struggles to adapt to his new location and time, only gradually coming to understand his true identity. How should he proceed? In the end, he decides his only recourse is to become a screenwriter.

Brian will launch Willing at Nelson’s Public Library on Wednesday, December 3rd, starting at 7 PM. Books will be available for purchase and, as Brian reads from the book, you will be able to hear the bard speak in the original pronunciation of the time. For example: rather than “ A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” you might hear, “my arse, my arse, my kingdom far an arse!”