You know…Shakespeare is actually pretty cool. Okay, okay, we know we sound like the stereotypical edgy English teacher about to rap a sonnet to the class. But it’s true! There’s a reason why the Bard has remained prevalent for 400 years. We’re not the only ones who feel this way — turns out there’s a whole world of authors donning Shakespeare’s cap in the name of that most sacred writing tradition: parody!
In honor of the Bard, we compiled a list of over 20 Shakespearean parodies that will leave you laughing all the way to Stratford-upon-Avon.
Pop Sonnets: Shakespeare’s Spins on Your Favorite Songs by Erik Didriksen
Originally a Tumblr blog, software engineer and musician Erik Didriksen started the Pop Sonnets project in 2014. Over survey of every musical genre, Didriksen rewrote 100 chart-topping hits as Shakespearean sonnets. His poetry was eventually published in book form in 2015.
Erik Didriksen has an ear for musicality. He expertly marries the iambic pentameter required of Shakespeare’s sonnets with the unique sound characteristic of each musician. Whether he’s parodying 50 Cent, The Beatles, or even Beyoncé, Didriksen captures the spirit of their songs. The best thing about Pop Sonnets is the love and appreciation for language running throughout it. Below is a startling example of Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball, recaptured in Shakespeare’s voice.
We fought with fervor for our young romance
and jump’d headlong into its rash pursuit;
for once we shared a kiss, there was no chance
that any mortal could our love refute.
It still lives on — eternal, without pause —
although I can’t its sacraments observe.
Thou canst not say I left thee without cause;
I only parted to myself preserve,
for I had launch’d myself t’ward love’s embrace
as trebuchets would hurl projectiles far
to try and break the walls that do encase
thy heart from any chance it might be scarr’d.
— Thy battlements did my assault deflect,
and so I am the one instead that’s wreck’d.
— Erik Didriksen, Pop Sonnets: Shakespeare’s Spins On Your Favorite Songs
Two Gentlemen of Lebowski by Adam Bertocci
Sonnets are one thing. Writing an entire five-act Shakespeare play is another. But that’s just what Adam Bertocci did. Inspired by the Coen Brothers’ 1998 film The Big Lebowski, Bertocci — a writer and filmmaker himself — posted the original, unrevised text of his parody play online in early 2010. The reaction to the script was tremendous. Three stars of the original film — Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, and Julianne Moore — were reportedly sent links to the text and were amused by the premise. Almost immediately, interest was cultivated in producing a full-fledged stage production that premiered off-Broadway in March 2010. The book was published in October of the same year.
Two Gentlemen of Lebowski is laugh-out-loud funny. It remains faithful to the plot of the original film while also celebrating the nuances of Shakespeare’s speech. Bertocci is intentional with his use of prose versus verse between characters and scenes. The script is also rife with inside-joke references to Shakespeare’s other plays. Readers can preview the first three scenes here. To offer a taste of Bertocci’s genius, enjoy this speech from The Dude — or, as he’s known in the play, The Knave — about his beloved rug.
It was of consequence, I should think; verily, it tied the room together, gather’d its qualities as the sweet lovers’ spring grass doth the morning dew or the rough scythe the first of autumn harvests. It sat between the four sides of the room, making substance of a square, respecting each wall in equal harmony, in geometer’s cap; a great reckoning in a little room. Verily, it transform’d the room from the space between four walls presented, to the harbour of a man’s monarchy.
— Adam Bertocci, Two Gentlemen of Lebowski
Jordan Monsell
Jordan Monsell is an artist and author who dipped his toe into the Shakespearean parody world not once but twice. Aside from the books listed here, Monsell also directed and co-adapted Pulp Shakespeare: The Unauthorized Shakespearean Parody of Pulp Fiction. This play, also known as A Slurry Tale, premiered at the Minnesota Fringe Festival in 2009. It also later had limited runs in New York and Los Angeles, but the script, unfortunately, has never been published.
Ministers of Grace: The Unauthorized Shakespearean Parody of Ghostbusters
“Who wilt thou call?” This is the question Jordan Monsell answers in his hilarious and inspired book, Ministers of Grace, based on the 1984 film, Ghostbusters. Similar to Bertocci, Monsell expertly weaves together references to both the movie and Shakespeare’s other works. After all, the Bard was also a fan of ghost stories. Dan Aykroyd was enthralled by the book, saying it “celebrate[s] the Ghostbusters in a whole new, old way.”
I shall have you with us in this cause. Sir Spengler, with dowsing rods in hand, has taken’ readings strange and waits upon us even now. My own occasion peaks!
— Jordan Monsell, Ministers of Grace: The Unauthorized Shakespearean Parody of Ghostbusters
Shakespeare’s Oz
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is no stranger to reimagined adaptations. This story has graced the musical theatre stage twice, but never before has it been rewritten into iambic pentameter. Full of cheeky escapism and Elizabethan magic, Monsell’s remarkable Shakespeare’s Oz reminds us all: “There be no place like home.”
Nay, I wish to go along with you.
For they care about me not at home.
I have set up my rest to run away, so
I will not rest till I have run some ground.
— Jordan Monsell, Shakespeare’s Oz
Ian Doescher
Ian Doescher: The king himself. This Yale-educated author has likely written more Shakespearean parodies than anyone else on Earth. As such, we felt it was only right to feature all of his work. No matter where your fandoms may lie, we guarantee there’s something for you in his canon.
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars
It all started in a galaxy far, far away. Doescher, a lifelong fan of George Lucas’s Star Wars saga, painstakingly retold all nine main films as five-act Shakespearean plays. His dedication to the language is truly admirable — even R2-D2 beeps in perfect iambic pentameter! Doescher plays with Shakespeare’s language in intriguing and refreshing ways. For example, R2-D2 may speak to other characters in nothing but beeps and chirps, but he delivers flawless monologues as asides to the audience. Another especially inspired choice sees Yoda speaking in haiku rather than iambic pentameter.
The full William Shakespeare’s Star Wars series contains the following books:
- Verily, A New Hope
- The Empire Striketh Back
- The Jedi Doth Return
- The Phantom of Menace
- The Clone Army Attacketh
- Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge
- The Force Doth Awaken
- Jedi the Last
- The Merry Rise of Skywalker
At last, where hast thou been? I fear they come
In this direction. Pray, what shall we do?
My circuitry o’erloads, my mind’s o’erthrown!
And fear hath put its grip into my wires.
We shall be sent unto that place I dread—
The Kessel spice mines whence no droid returns—
And there be blasted into who knows what!
— Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope
Pop Shakespeare
Ian Doescher’s next series reimagines famous teen films from pop culture as Shakespearean plays. This trilogy includes Much Ado About Mean Girls, Get Thee…Back to the Future!, and The Taming of the Clueless. Full of pep and love and plenty of laughs, readers are sure to enjoy these reimagined stories that are also playfully illustrated by Kent Barton. Doescher’s decision to adapt the 1995 film Clueless is especially funny, given that it is already an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, Emma.
My friends and I all gather’d near the pool,
Array’d in swimsuits, sun upon our backs,
The very height of beauty, youth, and joy,
No cares about the future, come what will—
And wonder: hath I somehow stepp’d inside
A strange advertisement for cleansing cream?
— Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Clueless
Marvel Shakespeare
Zounds! Doescher did comics, too? That’s right! His next foray into fandom, Shakespeare started with the October 2016 Issue of Deadpool. Working with comic book author Gerry Duggan and artist Bruno Oliveira, Doescher’s contributions were eventually anthologized into Deadpool: World’s Greatest, Vol. 7: Deadpool Does Shakespeare. After this experience, Doescher got to work adapting the first four Avengers films into the incomparable William Shakespeare’s Avengers: The Complete Works. This project delightfully combines the Bard’s language with Danny Schlitz’s peppy comic art.
’Twas Loki who hath just pass’d by our way,
And threateneth the people, who are stuck
Like fish caught in a barrel for the slaughter.
See how the numerous Chitauri come?
— Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s Avengers: The Complete Works
William Shakespeare’s Horror
“Forsooth — ‘tis alive!” Ian Doescher’s final series of Shakespearean parodies is his horror trilogy. The dark, Gothic atmosphere of these classical creatures feels right at home within the poetic confines of iambic pentameter. This trilogy features Tragical History of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Why settle for the twisted metaphorical monstrosity of Shakespeare’s Richard III when you could have the real thing?
How firm the grasp of this most agèd hand,
As cold as ice and causing me to wince.
How strange the man who bears the mighty grip,
Pale visage, clad in black from head to toe.
— Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s Dracula
William Shakespeare’s Christmas Carol
Aside from these illustrious series, Ian Doescher also published two solo Shakespearean works. The first is William Shakespeare’s Christmas Carol, adapted from the Charles Dickens story of the same name. Unlike the other adaptations, this one goes a step further into total satire. Characters are lifted directly from Shakespeare’s other plays — the Cratchits become Benedick and Beatrice, and the visiting ghosts are now Puck, Falstaff, and the Ghost of King Hamlet. This raucous play turns multiple classic tales on their heads — all while maintaining the Bard’s characteristic voice.
Had I my will, each folly-laden lad
Who roameth o’er the streets with ‘Merry Christmas’
Upon his lips should face a torment grand:
Be boil’d within a pudding of his making,
Entomb’d, a stake of holly through his heart!
— Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s Christmas Carol
MacTrump: A Shakespearean Tragicomedy of the Trump Administration, Part I
Aside from William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, Ian Doescher is most known for his solo book, MacTrump. This play was co-written with a former Obama staffer writing under the pseudonym Jacopo Della Quercia. Based on the first two years of the Trump administration, Doescher’s political satire is a marriage of Shakespeare’s tragedy and comedy genres. MacTrump is a brilliant mix of humor, greed, and a fictional history that feels all too real.
Forsooth, this is a most tremendous crowd.
Say Kelleyanne, behold this mighty crowd.
Was e’er a crowd terrific as this crowd?
It crowds my mind to think upon this crowd.
— Ian Doescher and Jacopo Della Quercia, MacTrump: A Shakespearean Tragicomedy of the Trump Administration, Part I
From pop music to cult classics to superhero comics, these authors have adapted every fandom imaginable. We hope you enjoyed these Shakespearean parodies as much as we did! After you’ve read the books linked above, try writing a Bard-approved satire of your own. Let slip the dogs of humor!
For a list of Shakespearean retellings, click here.
Visit our Recommendations bookshelf on Bookshop.org to satiate your reading thirst.
