“That’s women’s work though, isn’t it? To take a bowl of shit and find something that glimmers, something that makes the pain of having to put up with it all just about worthwhile,” (Shields 48).
Seven years before King Lear takes place, Lear’s three daughters struggle to have their voices heard in a patriarchal world. Goneril is a natural-born leader urging her father to announce her as his heir to the throne, Regan pushes boundaries while trying to be seen as more than just a body, and Cordelia keeps the peace with her smile. The three sisters work to break the binds around them as a storm brews and a mountain of corpses rots outside the castle walls, begging the question if such change is ever possible.
What a remarkable play, I’m sad to have learned it played so near me but I didn’t know of it’s existence until now!
Queen Goneril is a tightly written play that acts as a wonderful prequel to one of Shakespeare’s classics, though a few modern additions have been added. Queer relationships are explored, and a great meta device is used at the beginning and ending of the play to really hit the theme of the play home. I loved how Shields worked in lines, plot-points, and characters into her play while also adding lines and moments that foretell big moments in King Lear.
I loved all the sisters. I admired Goneril’s determination for power, Regan’s confidence as a woman in male spaces, and Cordelia’s struggle as the youngest sister only trying to keep the peace when her two oldest sisters don’t really see her and her father only likes when she is gentle. I also loved the exploration of race, how the three sisters are mixed race and their mother is, in Shield’s play, canonically Black. It added another layer of power dynamics and racism to the world and I liked the discussion around it.
But the ending, oof the ending! What a blow! I loved it, but I really wanted things to turn out differently. I loved how Shields turned the question to the audience on women’s roles and if we can ever truly be respected in positions of power.
Queen Goneril is a masterpiece of a play and one that any Shakespeare lover will enjoy. I’m hoping with all my heart that Stratford chooses to put this on one year!
Publication: September 12 2023
Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
Pages: 144 pages (Paperback)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Play, Canadian, Queer
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
Set seven years before King Lear, Queen Goneril centres the struggles of Lear’s daughters as they negotiate patriarchal systems built to keep them relegated to the sidelines. In Goneril, we find a natural-born leader. In Regan, a boundary pusher. And in Cordelia, a reluctant peacekeeper. As the three work to dismantle their individual constraints, a storm of inner reckoning begins to brew that reflects their deepest yearnings and mirrors our contemporary world.
Sarah O'Connor 