One-woman play looks into the life of a poet

Mrs. Shakespeare, Will’s first and last love

March 11-19

Written and…

Mrs. Shakespeare, Will’s first and last love

March 11-19

Written and Performed by Yvonne Hudson

Calvary United Methodist Church, Northside

(412) 394-3353

Student Tickets $8

Ever wonder about Shakespeare’s personal life? Did you know he was married? Had children? Cheated on his wife? Well, here is your opportunity to meet the woman who knows it all in “Mrs. Shakespeare, Will’s first and last love.”

In this one-woman show, writer and performer Yvonne Hudson gives us a unique glimpse into the playwright’s life through the eyes of his wife, Anne Hathaway. Depicting their lives together as well as the 23-some years they were apart, Hudson offers a poignant depiction of what life might have been like for the couple.

The play begins in the year of Shakespeare’s death on April 23. As Anne takes us through the ups and downs of their marriage, from the early years of courtship to the discovery that Will had been unfaithful, she weaves together a mixture of sonnets and speeches to tell her story.

Hudson draws on some of Shakespeare’s most famous works, including “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Othello,” as well as songs and music from the Elizabethan period to illustrate the ever-shifting balance between life and art.

This show originally ran in Pitt’s own Studio Theatre as part of Hudson’s theatre arts master’s thesis project, but it has since been seen all over the world, including the Tower of London and Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon. Hudson is currently a graduate student here at the University of Pittsburgh and is the director of marketing communications for the department of Theatre Arts.

This Pittsburgh-born play has finally made its way back home, and the woman behind Shakespeare has finally found a voice.