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Here at Really Old Books we've so far covered The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey, two poems with unknown or apocryphal authors - so I decided it would be good to choose a play whose authorship is b...
Here at Really Old Books we've so far covered The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey, two poems with unknown or apocryphal authors - so I decided it would be good to choose a play whose authorship is beyond doubt. The Tempest is Shakespeare's last solo play - after writing it, Shakespeare gave up the theatre and joined up with Christopher Marlowe and Francis Bacon, forming a band called The Real Shakespeare. (Will on drums, Marlowe on bass, Bacon lead guitar. Emilia Lanier joined later as a vocalist.) According to my Arden Shakespeare edition, The Tempest "has been a play for all eras, all continents and many ideologies." It is richly ambiguous in its characters and has been a source of inspiration for painters and writers alike, as well as being one of the central texts in the development of postcolonial theory. As residents of Britain's sixth favourite colony this should be of interest to many Australians. It also features a shipwreck, so it should be of interest to Odyssey fans. I haven't read it before so I can't vouch for how homoerotic Prospero and Caliban's relationship is, so for Gilgamesh fans my recommendation is less certain. I wrote a more serious and straightforward event description earlier but the Meetup app decided to delete all my hard work, so here we are. Come one, come all! Let's enjoy a major work of world literature that doesn't have quite the same name recognition as a Hamlet or Macbeth, but stands proudly beside them as one of Shakespeare's very best works. Feel free to find the play in bookshops or on Project Gutenberg, or I'm sure you can watch it for free on YouTube or elsewhere too.
Date & Time
Saturday 23 May 2026
4:00 am – 6:00 am
Location
The Shakespeare Hotel, Sydney
200 Devonshire Street
Sydney, Unknown
location_onGrill'd, Success
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