Legacy Bound: “The Book of Will” at Road Less Traveled
- Anthony Chase
- Oct 5
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 6
REVIEW by ANTHONY CHASE
Last night I luxuriated in the lavish glow of Road Less Traveled’s lush and glorious staging of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will. Gleaming with language and longing, this lyrical and laugh-laced journey through seventeenth-century London’s lively theater lanes traces the gallant quest of Shakespeare’s grieving comrades, who strive to gather and grant a grand, genuine collection of his plays, seven years after the playwright’s passing.
The resulting book is known today as “The First Folio.” It contains thirty-six of Shakespeare’s plays, including eighteen that had never appeared in print before -- Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and Julius Caesar among them -- saving them from being lost forever. Buffalo’s particular claim to this legacy is substantial: only about 235 copies survive from the original run of 750 to 1,000, and our city is home to two – one at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and the other at the University at Buffalo.
Taking the publication of this book as her unlikely inspiration, Gunderson has devised an irreverent treat for theater nerds and Shakespeare devotees. Count me in.
The play opens with a young thespian (Isaiah Brown) valiantly delivering Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy:
To be or not to be … Aye, there’s the point.
To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye all.
If you just recoiled and thought, “Wait, that’s not how it goes!” this play is for you. This is a co-production by Road Less Traveled and Shakespeare in Delaware Park, marking the latter’s 50th anniversary season.
The Book of Will follows Shakespeare’s friends as they navigate the perilous road to publication. After that brief bit of Hamlet-lite, we’re swept into a tavern, where three venerable Buffalo actors portray three venerable actors of Shakespeare’s time: Henry Condell (David Marciniak), John Heminges (Gregory Gjurich), and Richard Burbage (Peter Palmisano). They’re outraged at the butchery of Hamlet we’ve just endured. Burbage was the original Hamlet -- as well as the first Othello, King Lear, Richard III, Macbeth, and Romeo. Condell and Heminges, principal players with Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men, are best remembered today as the publishers of the First Folio. And so, begins our story.
Under John Hurley’s big-hearted, generous direction, the show boasts an expansive cast, brimming with familiar and highly regarded faces – many, closely associated with Shakespeare in Delaware Park -- in a production that is briskly paced and allows each performer to breathe life into a distinctive presence as relationships evolve and tighten. Hurley’s deft guidance balances the play’s shifting tones, from boisterous tavern scenes to intimate moments of grief, with seamless transitions that keep the audience fully engaged.
Marciniak, Gjurich, and Palmisano form a triad of friendship that is the emotional engine of the play, each distinct in temperament and perfectly complementary in ensemble. Palmisano, as Burbage, devours the stage with bravado and gleeful excess -- a star of the Bard’s original stable, indeed. His character exits early, leaving Condell and Heminges to keep the engine turning alone, and with greater urgency, prodded by the weight of Burbage’s absence.
These three fine actors establish an admirably swift pace in their opening scene, but there are moments when lines are fired off so rapidly that some details were lost. (For the record, they are mocking the amateur Ophelia for “giggling” her way through Act III. The unintelligible word is “giggling”).
Marciniak’s Henry is the eternal optimist, casting rays of humor and conviction. Gjurich grounds the proceedings with understated gravity and a twinkling humanity. They are best revealed through their interactions with the women in their lives.
In recent years, Amanda Funiciello has steadily been conquering the Buffalo musical theater world -- Little Shop of Horrors, Kragtar, Legally Blonde, Airness. Here she proves to be just as impressive in a legit role, playing strong-willed Alice Heminges, a quick-witted young woman who exudes resolve and smart defiance. More than dutiful daughter; she is the resourceful manager of her father’s tavern and a young woman who tolerates no fools. Funiciello layers her performance with intelligence and playfulness, making Alice both confidante and commentator, her innate stage presence ensures she claims every inch of the spotlight she’s given.
Rebecca Elkin is commanding as Elizabeth Condell. Her portrayal fuses steady support with perceptive, wifely savvy. Elkin animates steadfastness with lively wit, bringing both warmth and a gently sardonic skepticism to the role. She gives Henry’s ambitions the grounding of common sense, and every exchange feels earned. That her family name is synonymous with Buffalo’s love of Shakespeare only enriches her resonant performance; she steps into this role as if it were home.
Jeremy Kreuzer turns understatement into quiet heroism as Ralph Crane, the humble, self-effacing scrivener of the King’s Men. Initially tentative, almost blending into the scenery, Kreuzer soon reveals his character to be a dogged artisan at the heart of literary history. With dry ironic wit and a remarkably expressive face, he transforms the unassuming copyist into a gentle but vivid presence -- a champion of accuracy whose work becomes the scaffolding for Shakespeare’s survival. If you’ve encountered Kreuzer anywhere on Buffalo’s stages -- be it as Giovanni in ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Jebediah in Kragtar!, or a host of compelling side roles, chances are, you remember him. Indeed, he tops my list of Buffalo’s most underrated actors.
Making a highly entertaining surprise entrance as William Jaggard, David Lundy mines his character’s most odious qualities to create endearingly comic paydirt as the wily publisher. His characterization is both outrageous and finely tuned. Lundy captures the oily bluster of the profiteer and, in his final scene, a fleeting paternal tenderness that almost -- almost -- redeems the man. This is the sort of character work for which Lundy is justly celebrated in Buffalo, adding another sharply etched role to his roster of memorable performances.
Jake Hayes is winningly earnest as Isaac Jaggard, finding the ache of a son torn between his ideals and his father’s cynicism and questionable ethics. Norm Sham’s Ben Jonson offers bluster and pathos in equal measure, a hearty sparring partner to Shakespeare’s memory. Augmenting the talents of the seasoned Shakespeareans is, appropriately, an aspiring Shakespearean, young Isaiah Brown, who acquitted himself admirably as Fabian in Twelfth Night this summer. Here he plays Boy Hamlet and other roles.
There is no hard evidence that poet Emilia Lanier was the “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets, but that doesn’t stop Gunderson from handing Melinda Capeles a feast of a character who makes an emphatic mark with her one riveting scene. Capeles does not waste her cameo moment. She transforms Lanier into a mesmerizing spirit of sensuality, intellect, and romantic rage. With bold vocal choices and a relish for language, Capeles personifies the challenge and inspiration that strong women offered to Shakespeare and his circle, and the sort of woman who often bursts onto the stage in his plays.
Lisa Ludwig brings a sturdy, loving energy to Rebecca Heminges, skillfully portraying a woman whose faith and perseverance anchor the Heminges family through loss and uncertainty. Her scenes with Gjurich are quietly moving, illuminating the play’s deepest themes.
When Ludwig shifts to the role of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s aging widow, she does so with understated dignity and poignant restraint, becoming the embodiment of grief and memory, her late appearance in the play arriving like a shadow passing through the lives of those who remain behind, reminding us of the cost and depth of love that endures after death.
A timely note for this production: 2025 witnessed a remarkable shift in Shakespearean biography following the discovery of a letter addressed to “Good Mrs Shakspaire” that reveals compelling evidence that Anne Hathaway, long thought to have been left behind in Stratford, actually lived with Shakespeare in London during the height of his creative output. This discovery expands the portrait of Hathaway, inviting audiences to reconsider her role in Shakespeare’s life, not as a distant figure, but as a present, active participant in his London world. Written in 2017, Gunderson’s play depicts the old view of the relationship.
The production team also merits high praise. Dyan Burlingame’s set is a study in time travel – as well as economical use of space, and Todd Warfield’s costumes manage to evoke the era while allowing the actors to move in modern comfort. Lighting by John Rickus opens up the stage, balancing intimacy and grandeur with subtle transitions.
Hurley’s direction deftly weaves humor and heart through every scene, illuminating the connections between historical loss and present-day joy, without letting the pace falter for a moment. Emphasizing remembrance, he closes the evening with the full company unleashing an exhilarating cascade of Shakespearean lines, spoken from every corner of the stage. The result is an echo chamber of language and memory that lingers after the lights fade and we exit the house.
To describe this play merely as the story of how a book was published is to miss the magic. The Book of Will is a raucously funny, emotionally layered meditation on friendship, loss, and the unlikely audacity it takes to safeguard art for the ages. On Road Less Traveled’s stage, Shakespeare’s comrades -- and their clever, courageous wives -- embark on a quest to rescue their friend’s words, discovering along the way that legacy is never just ink and paper, but is best measured in love, laughter, and loyalty that echo long beyond any closing line.
The production continues at Road Less Traveled Theater, 456 Main Street, Thursdays to Sundays, through October 19, 2025. https://www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org/ . Student tickets are only $10 on Thursdays with student ID.
For this production, Road Less Traveled Theater and Shakespeare in Delaware Park have partnered with the Buffalo and Erie County Library System. There is currently a display in the Road Less Traveled Theater cocktail lounge showcasing items from the Library’s Shakespeare collection, including unusual Shakespeare souvenir – plates, a door knocker, and other memorabilia. The most fun is a facsimile of the first folio, created in 1910 and available for patrons to leaf through. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library members will also receive a $5 discount off the regular ticket price by showing their library card at the box office.
