Ian Doescher’s ‘William Shakespeare’s Star Wars’ First Two Scenes

First time author Ian Doescher has penned a play called William Shakespeare’ s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, bringing two of the most iconic names in literature and movies together.

This is an interesting concept because Star Wars is the quintessential do good movie: follow the force and kill the bad guys. Shakespeare’s plays are all about tragedies and dark characters to some extent.

In an unusual mash-up, Doescher has reinvented Star Wars through Shakespeare’s eyes using his unparalleled iambic pentameter, a commonly used metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in that line.

This new take on the sci-fi classic will be available for purchase on July 2 and is now available for pre-order. An excerpt of the first two scenes of the unconventional piece has been released by Amazon.

Doescher has invited people interested to the launch of his first book William Shakespeare: Verily A New Hope, which will include audience participation. He tweeted:

“Three weeks till book day – wonders never cease! / Are you in Portland? Come to the release.”

In his website, Doescher says he got the inspiration to write the book in the spring and summer of last year:

“Ian read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, watched the Star Wars trilogy for the millionth time, and attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with his family. At the Festival, Ian saw the funny, gay-marriage-themed, modern adaptation The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa by Alison Carey. Within this span of a few months, Ian had mashups, Star Wars, and Shakespeare on his mind. The morning after watching The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa, he had the idea to write William Shakespeare’s Star Wars.”

According to Quirk Books’ website, Ian has loved Shakespeare since he was in the eighth grade and was born 45 days after the date Star Wars Episode IV was released. He has a B.A. in Music from Yale University, a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Ethics from Union Theological Seminary.

Will you purchase Ian Doescher’s William Shakespeare’s Star Wars?

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