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Kooky and kinky, ‘Shakespeare for Squirrels,’ turns the Bard on his rear

By George Pelletier - Milford Bureau Chief | Jun 13, 2020

Frenzied parodist Christopher Moore, fresh off some time in 1947 San Francisco (“Noir,” 2018), returns with a rare gift for Shakespeare fans who think “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” would be perfect if only it were a bit zanier, and a lot more dirty.

Moore, who possesses an innate ability to write humorously on a wide variety of subjects, returns to his love of the Bard and his recurring character, the erstwhile fool, Pocket of Dog Snogging, with “Shakespeare for Squirrels,” in this uniquely Moore-ish take on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The bones of Shakespeare’s play are there, but Moore assembles a more sorted and assorted cast of characters, including goblins, which few will remember from college Shakespeare, mostly because they weren’t there. And since Moore’s goblins are willing to perform sex acts in exchange for silver, it’s likely we’d all remember them.

With “Shakespeare,” Moore’s amusing third foray of merriment and mockery – the predecessors are “Fool” and “The Serpent of Venice” – the writer drops his nimble, quick-witted and potty-mouth protagonists into Greece where they quickly discover that the island is in turmoil

Their initial adventures are innocuous enough as they discover a group of tradesmen rehearsing a play, bump into Demetrius’s jilted lover, Helena, and make good use of their codpieces to store the nuts and berries they collect in the forest. As one does.

“Shakespeare” gets bawdy with a little shagging, some shagging and a bit more shagging. There is also some murder and other less salacious adult themes. Unlike the familiar mantra about comedy, dirty humor is not some kind of skill-less cheap shot. It’s an art form. Who would have ever thunk that Shakespeare could do blue comedy?

Some might say Shakespeare meets Dashiell Hammett in this wild ride of a murder mystery; Egeus, the Duke’s minister, is furious that his daughter Hermia is determined to marry Demetrius, instead of Lysander, the man he has chosen for her. The Duke decrees that if, by the time of the wedding, Hermia still refuses to marry Lysander, she shall be executed or get thee to a nunnery. Pocket, being Pocket, cannot help but point out that this decree is complete bollocks, and that the Duke is nothing but a weasel for having even suggested it. Irked by the fool’s impudence, the Duke orders his death, until Pocket makes a daring escape and soon stumbles into the wooded realm of the fairy king Oberon, who, as luck would have it, is short a fool. His jester Robin Goodfellow, the mischievous elf better known as Puck, was found dead. Murdered. Dirt nap. Oberon makes Pocket the offer of a lifetime: he will make him his fool and have his death sentence lifted if he can find out who killed Goodfellow. But as anyone who is even mildly aware of the Bard’s most performed play ever will know, nearly every character has a motive for wanting the mischievous pixie dead. With too many suspects and too little time, Pocket must work his own kind of magic to find the truth, save his arse, and ensure that all ends well.

A rollicking tale of love, magic, madness, and murder, “Shakespeare for Squirrels” is a ‘Midsummer Night’s’ noir – a wicked and hysterically good time conjured by the singular imagination of Moore. And as we try to fill empty hours of dread around us, we need books more than ever before. We need them as guides to safer passage. We need them to make us laugh in the face of the unknown. We need more Moore.

SHAKESPEARE FOR SQUIRRELS

AUTHOR

CHRISTOPER MOORE

PUBLISHER

WILLIAM MORROW

PRICE

$29

PAGES

288

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