School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up-The series continues in the same format established in the previous installment, wherein six different actors each hosted a one-hour examination of a Shakespearean work meaningful to them. Kim Cattrall (of Sex and the City fame) focuses on Antony and Cleopatra, having played the Egyptian queen twice in her career. Recalling her performances and speaking to other actresses who have played this role, Cattrall compares different interpretations with the original text. Joseph Fiennes (of Shakespeare in Love, appropriately) examines Romeo and Juliet, and includes West Side Story in his list of ways the work lives on. Fiennes visits a London school where teenagers are studying the star-crossed lovers, and students everywhere should be so lucky as to have such an engaging lesson with a passionate and knowledgeable performer. Other presenters and plays in this format include Christopher Plummer for King Lear and Morgan Freeman for The Taming of the Shrew, but Cattrall is the only woman, a 1:5 ratio that puzzlingly maintains from the first season of the series. Still, for classes studying any of Shakespeare's works, this series offers many more insights than a single film version might. VERDICT This is a worthy purchase for high school and academic libraries.-Bernie Morrissey, Middle School Librarian, The Harker School, San Jose, CA © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.