William Shakespeare's Star Wars

By: Ian Doescher

Narrated by: Daniel Davis, Jonathan Davis, Ian Doescher, January LaVoy, Marc Thompson

Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Multi-Voiced Performance, 2014

Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas's epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare's greatest plays. 'Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearsome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the audiobook you're looking for.

©2013 Ian Doescher (P)2013 Random House Audio

the empire doth protest too much, methinks

This is such a great concept for a book, and executed with such enjoyment and wonder that you'll be completely willing to overlook a few minor mistakes. Here you have something NEW and FUN, a book unlike anything you've read before. As you can see from the publisher's description, it's the story of Star Wars Episode 4 written in Shakespearean Iambic Pantameter. The soliliques are here, the asides, the great references to Shakespeare lines and Starwsars fandom (such as a reference to Han shooting first.)

Also, the author isn't afraid to rethink the characters. For instance, R2D2 speaks in beeps and squeaks, but then will give a monologue as an aside to the audience about how HE'S really the one controlling the action and how much he hates C3P0. If the gimic wears a bit thin in the middle and the author attempts to write stage directions at the end of the piece in a way Shakespeare never would, that's ok, because this is a fresh author and cast and they just want us to have fun with them. Go along for the ride.

Shakespearian Star Wars, who knew!

Marc Thompson and the rest of the cast clearly had a very enjoyable time with this production. Theatre was a very large part of my life at one point which meant Shakespeare was too. It's a brilliant adaptation and anyone who likes Star Wars and/or the works of William Shakespeare should check it out. Archtypes that Shakespeare clearly defines in many of his works are easily translate to the Star Wars Universe:R2-D2 as Puck and Darth Vader as Iago.
For those who are not into Shakespeare, but enjoy Star Wars this is a great way to understand Iambic pentameter if you have difficultly with it. The Audio production last only slightly longer then the movie itself, so a person could nearly follow along with the audio production with the movie if they have any difficulties with the language.
For my part I found this a greatly entertaining listen and would recommend to anyone who enjoys Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.

Good! But could use some polishing!

Where does William Shakespeare's Star Wars rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Star Wars is a killer story, and this telling of it does it justice. I'd say this is right up there with the Martian, from all what I've listened to so far (which isn't much).

What did you like best about this story?

I loved how close the characters voices were in relation to one another in representing their movie characters. performance and inflection were superb

What aspect of the narrators’s performance would you have changed?

I feel like the project was halfway finished. About a chapter or two in, all the processing on Storm Troopers, R2D2, and Darth Vader is removed, which is kind of jolting at first, especially when you hear R2's inner monologue without the pitching. That really killed the magic for me. If they update it to fix this, my performance rating will go to a full 5! I just feel like it would've been extra work to remove the processing, rather than leave it throughout.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

R2D2's internal dialog. so good.

Squee

This was brilliant, as a fan of both Shakespeare and Star Wars...
i found this book amazing . absolutely love it. Thank you Ian.

Excellent except for Luke's whining voice.

Well the story is what it excellent; and overall it's a great listen.
All except for Luke's voice ...

this doth entrance me beyond words!

Would you consider the audio edition of William Shakespeare's Star Wars to be better than the print version?

Great voices! sound effects! wonderfully performed!

What did you like best about this story?

familiar story with Shakespearian dialogue, wonder, funny, exciting,...

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Many, not all, of the narrators sound close to the voices of the actors!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Shakespear on the Death Star

Brilliant!

If you enjoy star wars and have the wit to enjoy Shakespeare's Elizabethan Anglophonic brilliance, this is for you.

Loved it!

The voices and sound effects were excellent! I especially loved whenever they parodied a Shakespeare line, like Luke using parts of the Saint Crispin's speech to rally the rebels, or having the Stormtroopers offer speeches/ monologues about why they are not checking things more thoroughly :')

I love Shakespeare and I love Star Wars.

This is such a unique retelling, that the story never gets old. since the storyline is so familiar, you are able to just enjoy the character's interactions and lines. I highly recommend this audible.

Awesome. :-)

Because I'm a huge fan of Star Wars and I love this book. B-)