What if some of William Shakespeare’s
greatest works and the creatures of HP Lovecraft’s nightmarish imagination
collided? That’s what ‘Shakespeare vs Cthulhu’ is all about, a selection of
short stories, poems and even a comic updating of ‘The Tempest’ for the Twitter
generation, gorgeously illustrated, and incredibly entertaining. What happens
when a college production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is violently derailed by the
discovery of a mystical grimoire? What horrors does Hamlet discover in the
tombs of Elsinore? What deal-with-the-devil does Henry V make, that reveals the
true meaning behind his oft-quoted war-cry “Once more unto the breach”? and how
did John Dee and William Shakespeare prevent the end of the world? In a story
that owes more than a nod to ‘Alien’s facehuggers and Heinlein’s ‘The Puppet
Masters’, we find out what awful preternatural power really led to Julius
Caesar’s assassination, and in a tale about Richard III we are made privy to
the gruesome secret of what actually lurks inside the monarch’s famous crooked
back. But there are some special guests in here as well – Shakespeare’s contemporary
Christopher Marlowe is hunted down by grotesque fish-creatures and Ben Jonson
and the Elizabethan poet Michael Drayton are treated to a disgusting meal they
will never forget – we find out what that stage direction ‘Exit, pursued by…’
really means (it has nothing to do with bears) and, in a genius twist, we learn
why Lear really exiled Cordelia, which gives us a bloody new take on the old
King’s madness. And it’s not just the tragedies and histories that get the
Lovecraft workover – in the shortest, but also one of the strongest, of the
stories, we discover what Lovecraft’s ancient gods have got in store for
‘Twelfth Night’s Lady Olivia, and her servant Malvolio.
All of these stories are quite wonderful,
and beautifully written, although this is a book that it’s probably best to dip
into rather than read in a couple of sittings – certain Lovecraft tropes like
weird geometries, portals opening into (or out of) other worlds and amphibious
warriors chasing our heroes through dark and deadly landscapes are frequently
used and re-used throughout this collection, which can prove a little
repetitive. These are tales that should be slowly and individually savoured,
with the only disappointing entry being an episode based upon ‘Macbeth’
(surprising, given that ‘Macbeth’ should lend itself more naturally to a
Lovecraft injection than any of Shakespeare’s other plays.) Still, that’s a
minor bump in the road. Whether you’re a fan of the Bard or a devotee of the
redoubtable HPL you will find much to enjoy and admire within these pages.
SHAKESPEARE VS. CTHULU / EDITED BY: JONATHAN GREEN / WRITTEN BY: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: SNOWBOOKS
