About The Book

In this exuberant comedy—and original revision of Shakespeare’s Othello and Romeo and Juliet—Constance Ledbelly, a drab and dusty academic, deciphers a cryptic manuscript she believes to be the original source for the tragedies, and is transported into the plays themselves. She visits Juliet and Desdemona, has a hand in saving them, and finds out what these women are about. In true Shakespearean spirit, Constance plunders the plays and creates something new, all the while engaging in a personal voyage of self-discovery. With an abundance of twists, fights, dances, seductions and wild surprises, the play is an absolute joy of theatricality—not surprisingly, considering the author who created it.

Winner of the Governor General’s Award for Drama

Praise

“Clever, pointed and entertaining. . . . This play is one of the wildest and woolliest feminist reappraisals that theatre has seen, and one of the most intellectually ambitious.” –Toronto Globe and Mail

“Imagine a collaboration among Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen, and you have the essence of Goodnight Desdemona.” –The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)

“In Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) the playfulness is the thing.” –San Francisco Chronicle

‘delightful, often hilarious . . . MacDonald doesn’t miss a trick, scattering satirical observations on love and sex, scholarship and the Bard like birdseed, while taking full advantage of the slapstick possibilities in Shakespearean cross-dressing.” –The Washington Post

MacDonald’s influences may be apparent, but the charm is her own.” –Variety

‘stratford-upon-Acid: that’s where MacDonald’s dizzying Goodnight Desdemona lives. . . . MacDonald traipses through the canon with glee. . . . Lots of clever fun.” –The Village Voice