Shakespeare and the Countess

April 6, 2015
While Shakespeare serves as this book’s headline attraction, it is the ambitious, crafty, and eagerly litigious Elizabeth Russell who takes center stage in this
power struggle-filled Elizabethan drama. Shakespeare scholar Laoutaris (Shakespearean Maternities) clearly respects Russell’s ability to outmaneuver her well-heeled enemies
as he fleshes out her decades of property acquisitions and continual pressure on high-ranking members of her extended Cecil and Bacon families. The self-proclaimed countess threatened Shakespeare’s livelihood with her suit against “London’s first permanent playhouse, the Theatre,” near her home, but her opposition inadvertently resulted in the creation of the famous Globe Theatre, which secured the Bard’s legacy. While Russell’s voice is heard strongly through letters and legal documents, Shakespeare’s opinion on the war over the Blackfriars property appears largely in the book’s last third, primarily through Laoutaris’s reading of his plays. That results in some tenuous threads—though others are much firmer—linking his opponents to various characters, including the notable Falstaff. As Laoutaris shows, Russell—a “staunch Puritan,” funerary monument designer, and the only female sheriff in Elizabethan England—was worthy of starring in a Shakespearean drama. 16 pages b&w illus.

April 15, 2015

Lady Elizabeth Russell (1540-1609) is known primarily for her 1596 petition to close the Blackfriars Theatre, which nearly destroyed William Shakespeare's career. In this in-depth biography Laoutaris (lecturer, Shakespeare Inst.) goes beyond the petition to paint an engaging portrait of this powerful noblewoman. Unusual for her time, Russell was highly educated and became known for her religious and political activism in support of Puritanism and female property rights, respectively. She was a powerful force in Elizabethan England both because of her familial ties to the throne and her formidable personality. The author shows, by deftly weaving the events during Russell's lifetime and her personal impacts played therein, that he exhaustively researched his subject using both primary sources (some of which have never been thoroughly studied) and secondary sources (as evidenced by the bibliography). He even makes a continual argument that the Globe Theatre, and Shakespeare's success, wouldn't exist without Russell since the building's existence, and thereby the Bard's career, stemmed directly from her confrontation with his acting troupe. VERDICT Those interested in religious history, especially the religious wars in England; the history and intrigues of Elizabethan England; women's history; and Shakespearean history will find this book an immensely riveting read.--Laura Hiatt-Smith, Douglas County Libs., CO

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