Hag-Seed

Atwood, Margaret. Hag-Seed. (Hogarth Shakespeare) New York: Hogarth Shakespeare, Crown Publishing, 2016.

Margaret Atwood did a remarkable job re-imagining Shakespeare's The Tempest. Since his release as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Festival, Felix Phillips has been going by the name Mr. Duke and teaching theatre to a group of prisoners at a medium security institution. He calls his group the Fletcher Correctional Players. The class is more than simply theatre, but he uses theatre as a means to teach other material and critical thinking to the inmates. When the person who had him ousted is set to visit the facility in his official governmental role, Felix sees his opportunity for revenge. He decides to perform The Tempest. He chooses the role of Prospero for himself, gets the woman who was to play Miranda before he was ousted to portray her in this version, and assigns the inmates their roles.  This work is certain to please Shakespeare enthusiasts as well as those who love Atwood's writing. I received an electronic copy for review purposes from the publisher through NetGalley.