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I Was Cleopatra

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.

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I Was Cleopatra

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.

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I Was Cleopatra

I Was Cleopatra

by Dennis Abrams
I Was Cleopatra

I Was Cleopatra

by Dennis Abrams

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781773060224
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Publication date: 04/03/2018
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range: 12 Years

About the Author

Dennis Abrams is a contributing editor for Publishing Perspectives. 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

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

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