I Was Cleopatra

by Dennis Abrams

Overview

The provocative fictional memoir of a boy actor in Shakespearian London.

In Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to appear on stage, and so female parts were played by boy actors. In I Was Cleopatra, readers meet John Rice — perhaps the most beautiful and acclaimed boy actor of them all. It is believed by many that John Rice originated the roles of Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and Cordelia, and this fictional memoir explores his life both on and off the stage. With graceful prose and an encyclopedic knowledge of the period, Dennis Abrams invites readers to experience gender fluidity and sexuality through the fictional recollections of a fascinating historical figure as he reflects on his life in this “farewell” to his theatrical past.

The story follows John from the age of thirteen, when he leaves his family in Reading to join the King’s Men theater troupe in London as an apprentice boy actor. Over the course of the next few years, John eagerly hones the acting skills necessary to portray female roles. He memorizes lines, reads all the plays he can get his hands on, and works on imitating female gestures and mannerisms. He becomes a friend, and eventually a lover, of Alexander, a boy actor who is getting too old to play female roles. And he works closely with Shakespeare himself, who coaches him through the roles of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra, among others.

But around the time he turns sixteen, John starts to worry about inevitably becoming too old to convincingly portray women onstage, which leads to some unsettling choices.

Key Text Features
literary references
author’s note

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773060231
Publisher:	Groundwood Books Ltd
Publication date:	04/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	637 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

DENNIS ABRAMS is the southern correspondent for Publishers Weekly. He has written more than thirty young adult biographies and history books. He is also the author of The Play’s the Thing, a complete young adult guide to the plays of William Shakespeare. I Was Cleopatra is his first novel. He lives in Houston.

Read an Excerpt

I was Cleopatra.

I was Lady Macbeth.

I was Cordelia in Master Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear. And I was the Fool in the same play.…

I was, for a time, an actor at the Globe Theatre in London where, before I entered my full adulthood and because of what some called my beauty — my physical qualities and appearance and demeanor — I was featured and praised for my performances in leading women’s roles, to both my shame and, I must confess, my pride.

I was loved by boys and girls and by men and women. And I loved them in return.

My name is John Rice.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

I Was Cleopatra:

". . . a poignant coming-of-age tale that explores the complexities of youth and gender performance. . . . A thought-provoking work that will encourage readers to learn more about the world of Elizabethan theatre."—Kirkus Reviews
"An impeccably researched and precisely told foray into the days of Shakespeare." — Booklist

The Play’s the Thing by Dennis Abrams:
“Abrams takes his reader on a glorious journey through the world of Shakespeare, the worlds within his plays, the worlds within the human psyche — and then brings us home, transformed.” New York Journal of Books

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2018
Gr 7–10—When John Rice, young son of a Reading glover, is apprenticed to The King's Men, a company of actors under royal patronage whose playwright-in-residence is William Shakespeare, he begins a new life, playing female parts in the all-male theatre of Elizabethan England. Complimented on his acting skills by the Bard himself, he thrives under the tutelage of Alexander, another young actor with whom John also has a physical relationship. Eventually he becomes a shareholder in the company, now playing male roles; however, after his wife dies in childbirth, he dedicates himself to the Church, putting his artistic life behind him. Abrams writes in a clear, concise manner, and his story is filled with historical details, but it reads more like a history of Elizabethan theater and less like a novel. There is much description and frequent passages quoted from Shakespeare's plays, but little dialogue or dramatic tension, and the writing is too dry to provoke much interest in YA readers. VERDICT Libraries will fare better with Bernard Cornwell's Fools and Mortals, which tells a similar story of an actor of female roles but with more action, conflict, and realistic dialogue.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence

School Library Journal

02/26/2018
Abrams’s first novel is a well researched yet at times impersonal fictional memoir of John Rice, an actor who performed at Shakespeare’s theater as a boy. John, age 35 when the book opens, pays a sad and loving farewell to his past life through the narrative that follows. At 13, John leaves his home in Reading, England to join the King’s Men theater troupe in London. His beauty, sensitivity, and feminine qualities allow him to excel at playing female characters at a time when women were played exclusively by men. PW correspondent Abrams meticulously details John’s development as an actor, playing under various masters, including Shakespeare himself; the Bard’s lines appear throughout. John is cast in the biggest roles—Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra, and Cordelia—at the Globe Theater, but feels lonely despite romantic attention from a fellow actor. Abrams’s discussion of gender fluidity and sexuality are among the novel’s most intriguing aspects. His knowledge of the historical era and Shakespeare’s oeuvre are evident, yet for all the verisimilitude Abrams brings to the page, his prose has a detached quality that may fail to fully engage readers. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

An impeccably researched and precisely told foray into the days of Shakespeare.

Booklist

In this fictional memoir of John Rice, an Elizabethan child actor, readers are given a glimpse into what life was like as he honed his stagecraft.

Literacy Daily

2018-02-05
All the world's a stage, and for John Rice the stage is also his life, the scene of his greatest triumphs and the repository of his personal insecurities.Abrams' (The Play's the Thing, 2015, etc.) novel is a fictional biography of the Elizabethan child actor believed to have originally played many of Shakespeare's major female roles, including Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, and Desdemona. The story opens with Rice's birth as the second son of a successful glove-maker. As one of seven children, Rice struggles to find his place in society, lacking the physical talents to follow in his father's footsteps. His life changes when the King's Men—the most famous theatrical troupe in London—comes to his hometown of Reading. Rice is transfixed by Alexander Cook's performance of Rosalind and, with his father's blessing, becomes the company's apprentice, poised to take over the ingénue roles as Alexander ages out of them. What follows is a poignant coming-of-age tale that explores the complexities of youth and gender performance. Rice is a compelling protagonist, and his journey showcases the theater's unique ability to free its denizens from mainstream societal expectations, although as he rises in the company he grapples with a Peter Pan-like horror of aging.A thought-provoking work that will encourage readers to learn more about the world of Elizabethan theater. (Historical fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews