From the publisher - Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd

We hope you enjoy the first scene of Patrick

Spillane’s play “Will’s Twins”. The complete book can
be purchased from our website www.mahobe.co.nz.

WILL'S TWINS
from NZ’s premier school playwright
Patrick Spillane.

In this lively romp, Will Shakespeare is broke and returns from

London to the Stratford family home and a frosty reception from his
wife Anne Hathaway. He hopes to stage a sponsored performance
of “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. He is short of actors and has to
talk his reluctant son Hamnet (thirteen for the purposes of this
fictional piece) into playing a female role. Hamnet is more into
wrestling and hunting than the strange world of boy actors and is
most unwilling to play a female on stage. His twin sister Judith, his
mate Tom and Tom's conveniently-named sister Hermia combine
with Meg the cheeky housekeeper to help out and create
subsequent confusion.

The text is intended for the junior English classroom and includes
differentiated close-reading, language and writing activities. It is
great for an accessible introduction to the Shakespearian world and
as part of thematic teaching on fantasy, dream, friendship,
imaginary worlds, growing up and family.
 WILL’S TWINS
A play by

Patrick Spillane
Dramaturg Duncan Allan

Based around a rehearsal of William Shakespeare’s

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Dedicated to English and Drama Teachers everywhere

Will’s Twins
A play by Patrick Spillane
First published in New Zealand in 2009

Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd.

P.O. Box 109-760
Newmarket, Auckland 1149
New Zealand

www.mahobe.co.nz

© Copyright 2009, Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd.

© Copyright 2009, Patrick Spillane.
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

ISBN 9781877489006

All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holders.

Performing rights to this play are gained through purchasing a class

set of the texts. Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd would also appreciate a
courtesy phone call, email or letter if you are performing the play.

Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Dr Brian Bennison, Graeme Holden and
the staff of Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd for their assistance in
producing this book. Special thanks also to two very talented people,
Duncan Allan for all his time and work as Dramaturg and to William
Furneaux for his outstanding art work and cover.

Pages 8 and 9 of this book contain an extract taken from Bill Bryson's
"Shakespeare, The World as a Stage", P70-71, first published 2008.
This extract is reprinted with the permission of Harper Collins
Publishers Ltd. © Bill Bryson, 2008.

Print Production: Imago Productions (FE) Pte Ltd, Singapore

About the Author

Patrick Spillane is New Zealand’s premier school playwright with a
unique proven teenage theatre voice. Previous best selling plays include
“Animal Fallout”, “Grace” and “Rosie”. He can be contacted through
Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd.
 CONTENTS
Possible Set Design 4

Introductory Activities
Before Reading the Play 5
Oral Activity - Lateral Lines 7
Preliminary Vocabulary 9
How to Approach the Text 10
About Shakespeare 11
Vocabulary in Context 13
Quick Fire Questions 14
More Challenging Questions 14

Will’s Twins - The Play 15

Post Play Activities

Reading Activities 91
Hot Seating / Role play 92
Find a Feature 92
Investigating the Text 93
Who Says? 94
Storyboard 94
Language Activities 95
Shakespeare’s Poetry 96
Spelling Bee 98
Punctuation 98
Scrabble Tiles 99
Rude Letters 100
Your Writing 100
Research 101
Responding to the Play 102
Character Analysis 103
The Ideas / Themes of the Play 104
William Shakespeare - Time Line 107
Shakespeare’s Plays 108
The Answers 109
 Introductory Activities

WILL'S TWINS - The Play

A play by Patrick Spillane based around a rehearsal of Will

Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Author’s note
Shakespeare's twins were born in 1585. Hamnet died in 1596,
aged eleven, while Judith lived into old age. For the fictional
world of this play the twins are aged thirteen.

It was the custom in Elizabethan England for boy actors to play

female roles (unlike countries such as Italy and France). Female
involvement in the theatre was considered inappropriate and
audiences accepted this, involving themselves in the story more
than the gender of the actors. These actors were apprenticed and
had extensive training.

Dogs were popular on stage and animal imagery and references

abound in Shakespeare's work.

Main Cast

WILL SHAKESPEARE - playwright, early thirties

ANNE HATHAWAY - his wife, eight years older

HAMNET - their son, 13, a twin

JUDITH - their daughter, 13, a twin (also Helena)

MEG - the housekeeper

TOM - 16, Hamnet's friend and aspiring actor (also Demetrius)

BILLY - 16, a butcher's apprentice (also Lysander)

Will’s Twins

HERMIA - Billy's sister, 14 (also Hermia in the rehearsal)

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Introductory Activities

“ A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Rehearsal cast:
Theseus - Duke of Athens
Hippolyta- Queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus
Egeus - A nobleman, Hermia's father
Oberon - King of the Fairies
Titania - Queen of the Fairies
Puck - Oberon's jester, sprite
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mustardseed - fairies
Peter Quince - A carpenter
Nick Bottom - A weaver (Pyramus)
Francis Flute - A bellows-mender (Thisbe)
Tom Snout - A tinker (Wall)
Snug - A joiner (Lion and Moonshine)

Production Notes
1. At least five or six male actors are required to play Will,
Hamnet, Tom, Billy, Oberon and Bottom. As always,
with Shakespeare, genders can be mixed up and actors
can double up.

2. The most busy and demanding of the twenty-two roles

are, in roughly descending order: Judith, Will, Hamnet,
Meg, Tom, Billy, Hermia, Ann, Puck, Bottom, Flute,
Oberon, Titania, Theseus, Egeus, Quince, Snout,
Hippolyta, Snug, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, Cobweb.
(Judith is on throughout most of the play. Meg often
"breaks" the fourth wall and communicates with the
audience.)

3. The Play runs for ninety minutes.

References:
Christopher Marlowe - also a young playwright.
Groundlings - audience members who paid a penny and stood in
the open courtyard or pit of the theatres.
Nashe and Greene - fierce critics of Shakespeare.
Southhampton and Essex - Shakespeare's backers or patrons.
Will’s Twins

New Place - Shakespeare’s grand Stratford house.

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 Scene 1

WILL'S TWINS
SCENE ONE

(Evening in the Stratford-on-Avon home of the Shakespeare

Family. Anne sits centre, braiding/brushing Judith's hair.
Music.)

WILL (offstage shouting) Hamnet, Judith! Where are you

my twin doves, my little bookends? (Enters with
flowers. Judith runs to meet him, Anne stands and
stares ahead.)

ANNE Were you announced, Will? We did not know of

your arrival.

WILL I am a poet, Anne, Will Shakespeare, the

playwright. I announce myself. (with mock bow)
Mr William Shakespeare, dramatist, visitor from
London. (Uses mock female voice and curtseys,
holding out flowers.) Oh you are most welcome
m'lord. Do enjoy our humble dwelling.

ANNE Very humble indeed and in my household you are

a failed and feckless husband and will abide by
that household's ways.

WILL Failed, feckless, reckless, perhaps. You should

write dear wife.

ANNE You will respect our home or leave.

WILL (Enraged, throws flowers down. Judith exits,

startled.) Oh I see, you onion-eyed flap dragon. Pay
the bills and take the chills.

ANNE You chose to live in London you milk-livered hedge

pig!

WILL Where else would a writer live? I need the street,

Anne. Life and noise and energy. Half the people
Will’s Twins

are under twenty. There are merchants and

ballad singers, beggars, and thieves. Writers like

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Christopher Marlowe. He's mad and bad ….and

stabbed….just last week.

ANNE And that's what you want? With youngsters to

feed?

WILL Of course not. I want stories, tales, the smell of

life, so where else would I be?

ANNE Here, Will, with us, not amongst the ale houses
and… whores.

WILL Chores, Anne, the daily chore of writing. I

rehearse in the mornings, perform in the
afternoons and write in the evenings. Yes, in the
taverns where there is warmth and lamps to write
by! You gave me your blessing.

ANNE In the hope that your writing would be blessed,

the family fortune restored and you avoid arrest
for deserting us. (silence) And your writing is
awful - Titus Andronicus is such a violent play.

WILL But everyone's heard of it.

ANNE Because it's brutal - hands and tongues lopped off!

A queen who eats her sons' flesh in a pie. Imagine!
And you with twins.

WILL The groundlings seem to like it.

ANNE And Venus and Adonis?

WILL They all like that!

ANNE Because it's so rude! A poem that makes me blush

with shame. And it doesn't make us a penny. Your
family needs five pence a day and you waste your
time in London.

WILL (subdued) So, I write cheese in London and you

Will’s Twins

make it in Stratford. Is that what you're saying?

We're a pair?

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 Scene 1

ANNE Robert Green called you a waspish little worm, an

upstart crow!

WILL Envy. Just green-eyed jealousy. He and Thomas

Nashe are envious. My work is much sought after.
Theatre owners are knocking on my door.

ANNE So you say, so you say…..Oh, when will we ever be

able to buy our New Place?

WILL It's the largest house in town! Vaulting ambition,

Anne.

ANNE Or be awarded a coat of arms? How can that ever

happen when you waste your time on such dark
subjects and dark ladies (Will is surprised.) ….
I hear things, Will. It's a small town and the
nights are long…

WILL I know, I know..

ANNE …and I've thought of dressing in men's garments

and visiting you in London..

WILL (anxious) No need for that..

ANNE ..only to find you in the arms of another..

WILL Now, now.. about this coat of arms… and the

house. It can be done, That's why I'm here. My
love play, Romeo and Juliet. It's playing to packed
houses. Granted, I'm a little short of money..a
temporary shortfall..

ANNE Do you not listen! William, William, lend me your

ears. We have no money! Susannah, our precious
daughter, is already a servant girl elsewhere.

WILL And I regret that! But I've got this new play, not
dark at all, full of love and laughter and mischief.
A rich idea..
Will’s Twins

ANNE Writers are full of rich ideas but are rarely rich!
How hard has it been all these years? Without
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Meg I would never have got by. The twins born in

winter. Hamnet so small I thought he would
drown in the baptismal font at Holy Trinity. I have
few rights, Will, but the twins have a right to some
comfort. To their father.

WILL And that's why I'm here. Southampton and Essex

will reward me richly for a season of this play
…here in Stratford. With two plays running our
purse will be full.

ANNE And the play, is it full of nonsense?

WILL Yes, yes…full of nonsense, magic and mischief.

The groundlings will love it.

ANNE They pay little enough.

WILL ..and so will Southampton and his mates…love it,

that is. A romantic comedy. They're all the go. It'll
be a success, you'll see. It's called A Midsummer
Night's Dream.

ANNE Midsummer's madness more like it.

WILL Exactly! It's a dream, a place of wonder.

ANNE And the catch is?

WILL No catch… just a wee hitch. Our company is

stretched. We're a couple of players short..

ANNE And the hitch?

WILL Well…the hitch is…we haven't got a bitch. We

have hounds a plenty but no boy to play one of the
female lovers. Helena. It's a very funny part.

ANNE Well good luck with your dog fight.

WILL I've had no luck. Stratford's a country town.

Will’s Twins

ANNE So there's a hitch and it's with a bitch. Why must

you writers always be so crude?
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 Scene 1

WILL It's what we do. People don't pay to see drudgery…

they pay for poetry.. "Fairy king, attend and mark:
I do hear the morning lark.' See, pretty stuff! It's
got to happen and I have a solution… A domestic
solution.

ANNE Judith can't do it! The queen says that it is rude

and lewd for women to perform in public. I agree.

WILL But Hamnet can.

ANNE Can't, Will! Won't! I won't have him part of your

world.

WILL He will do it for my sake and our family's sake!

ANNE Must you always posture and trumpet! (Exits.)

WILL Strumpet! That's what actors do! (He sinks to a

chair as twins enter.) It pays the bills.

JUDITH Strumpet? What's a strumpet?

HAMNET How should I know. I'm thirteen..Perhaps a

trumpet with a bosom. (Comes uncertainly to his
father.) How are you father?

WILL Hamnet! Sorry about all the bellowing. All the

world's a stage but I can't write my own lines here
in my own home.

JUDITH Mother misses you, father.

WILL She can join me in London.

JUDITH But she says your writing may yet save us.

WILL (surprised) Does she now?

HAMNET And she says you're a…a..

WILL (laughing) A what?

Will’s Twins

TWINS (together) A thief, a poacher!

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HAMNET A poacher. You poached game when you were

young and now she says that you steal your plots.

WILL Well she stole my life… So which am I, father or

poacher?

JUDITH Father
(together)
HAMNET Poacher

WILL (laughing and wrapping arms around them) Come

here, master and mistress echo. (pause) What did
you think of London when you visited?

JUDITH We could smell it twenty five miles away and the

people were ugly and scary..

HAMNET ..and there were thieves and noise aplenty..

JUDITH Such a hiss..

HAMNET And piss! They piss in the Thames, father!

(miming)
WILL And apart from that?

JUDITH We liked it.

WILL And did you like my love play? Romeo and Juliet.
What did you think of it?

JUDITH Beautiful!
(together)
HAMNET Awful!

WILL So what didn't you like, master critic?

HAMNET I liked Tybalt, he was rough and tough but Romeo

was whey-faced and miserable. Not like a proper
man.

WILL He was a boy, a boy in love!

Will’s Twins

HAMNET And I thought he was a pathetic cooing dove.

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 Scene 1

JUDITH Well I liked him, father. So handsome..

HAMNET Smooth, like a woman..

JUDITH ..with a smile..

HAMNET ..like a gash..

JUDITH ..tumbling locks..

HAMNET like a corkscrew..

JUDITH ..and eyes like dark wells..

HAMNET (Picks up flowers.) And a pong to match..

JUDITH ..and the curve of his leg..

HAMNET ..he was an egg! (high voice) "Parting is such sweet

sorrow!"

JUDITH But, Hamnet, he made me swoon!

HAMNET Judith he had a head like an empty room! (Grabs

flowers and goes down on his knees to Judith,
mocking voice.) Oh, that I could be a petal upon
that stem, that I might brush those lips!

JUDITH (laughing) Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou,

Romeo?

HAMNET On my knees, you goose! (Hits her with the flowers.

Will laughing)

WILL Look at you both. Two sides of a coin…. But what

of their love? Surely you must have liked their
love?

HAMNET Their love, father! How can you even write about
love when mother is here..
Will’s Twins

JUDITH .. and you're down there? Mother says you have a

different lover each month. A baker's dozen every
year.
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Scene 1

WILL She never could count.

HAMNET And how can we even believe in stage love? All

those boy-girls.

JUDITH Why must men play women?

HAMNET Your play should be called Romeo and Julian!

WILL It's the law. Talk to the queen if you wish.

HAMNET (laughing, hamming it up) There never was a story

of more woe..

JUDITH .. than Julian and his Romeo!

WILL (amused) You're good. Both of you,.. very good. The

children of your father, I'd say. Your mother is just
so, so domestic.. You see we're all such stuff as
dreams are made of…. and I have a dream for us
all, a magical dream..

JUDITH So does Hamnet but his dreams aren't too magical.

HAMNET (embarrassed) What?

JUDITH Well, you wouldn't find them in a madrigal.

WILL So, both of you dream but I want to talk about my

Stratford dream for our family. Judith…do you
dream of boys?

JUDITH (shyly as Hamnet mocks her, caressing himself) I

do, sometimes. I don't choose to. You're not
responsible for your dreams.

WILL But you can create dreams, write dreams, put them
in a wood near Athens… And Hamnet, you dream
also?

HAMNET Of course.
Will’s Twins

WILL And you dream of girls?

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 Scene 1

HAMNET Of course, of course I dream of girls, but..

JUDITH He doesn't choose to! He just does…I feel sorry for

the girls.

WILL So you dream of girls?

HAMNET Of course, now and then.

WILL That's good, that's good, because I need you to play

one.

HAMNET (shocked, exiting) Not me father..never.. I'm your

son..your son!

WILL It'd be fun, Hamnet…fun!

JUDITH Run, Hamnet… run!

WILL (Exasperated, pulls out script.) If I am to bring

money into this family, Judith, I need to stage this
new play here in Stratford. Southampton will
reward me richly but my company is stretched and
I'm a couple of players short. I need you to look at
this part. Our young pup Hamnet has to play
Helena.

JUDITH (Reads and looks up with a grin.) So the hitch is

you need a boy to play a bitch?

WILL (laughs) That's the hitch, my little dove. There's

lots of chaps and old dogs, but no boy actors to play
Helena.

JUDITH I'd love to play it.

WILL (arms on her shoulders) And how well you would,

Judith. How pretty and pouting you would be. And
funny. But people say that the theatre is no place
for a young lass, so how can you help me?

JUDITH I'll show Hamnet the script. (to audience) He's my

Will’s Twins

father so I think I should.

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Scene 1

WILL (to audience) And I'd be much the richer if she

would.

JUDITH Come father. (They exit arm in arm and Judith

passes script to Hamnet, entering.)

HAMNET Should! Should! My sister thinks I should play

my part and help father out. Methinks she thinks
too much. I've just seen my parents together.
They're like alley cats in a narrow lane. A lane
with a fish-head at the end… How would Judith
know? Father is never here! We've never hunted
or wrestled. I am a shadow in his life. (Silence.
Reads script at table and uses a bowl of fruit with
different fruits for different characters to improvise
the story.) So, Hermia's father wants her to marry
Demetrius, who is hopelessly in love with her. But
she loves Lysander and Hermia's friend Helena
loves Demetrius who, in turn, despises her. Mmm
.. fun, perhaps. Helena chases after Demetrius in
the woods. Strange, usually it's the boy doing the
chasing and the mating, like my mate Tom. Tom
the tomcat. So, Demetrius cannot have Hermia
and it's killing him and Helena is chasing him and
he'd like to kill her…. Do her mischief in the wood.
(does a Demetrius line) "I love you not therefore
pursue me not!" (Uses a high voice for Helena's
line.) "I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, the
more you beat me I will fawn on you. Use me as
your spaniel; spurn me, strike me, neglect me, use
me as you use your dog." She's a dog for
Demetrius? Sick man, my father. Mind you
spaniels are stupid and loyal…. .. I wonder which
girl he wants me to be. (Kisses an apple, fooling
around. Tom pokes his head around entrance,
surprising him.) Tom!

TOM Wrong! I'm that piece of fruit you were playing

with. (Grabs apple and script.) What's her name?

HAMNET Helena.
Will’s Twins

TOM Helena… (Bites into fruit.) Mmmm…she's nice..(in

a high voice) "I am your spaniel.. use me as your
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dog, Demetrius." What do you think? I love this

acting, it's such a lark. Is your father in town
then? I'm hoping he can help me out, give me a
start 'cos it's such a..

HAMNET ..lark? Not for me I'm afraid.

TOM Come on, let's give it a go (They share a script.

Tom plays Hermia, Hamnet plays Lysander.)

HAMNET "Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood".

I can't do this Tom.

TOM Sure you can. Just imagine I'm Billy's sister.

HAMNET That just made it worse! Alright, alright. "We'll

rest us, Hermia, if you think it good.."

TOM "Be it so, Lysander; find you out a bed, for upon
this bank will I rest my head."(Tom rests head on
Hamnet's shoulder.)

HAMNET "One turf will serve as pillow for us both.." (Pulls

away, Tom sprawls back on table.) No way am I
sharing a pillow with you, you mangy mutt.

TOM (still in high voice) "One heart, one bed…"

HAMNET They're not even your lines!

TOM "Two bosoms.. (Hamnet wrestles, tries to subdue

him.) Through your bosom (head down/up) your
bosom (Tom is muffled finally but comes up with
last line.) ..I can see your heart!" (Stands and
gains his composure.) …Darling! (Hamnet goes to
grab him again.) What's with you Hamnet? You
insecure or something? It's a play. A lark.

HAMNET Not for me it's not.

TOM So why did you pinch your father's script?

Will’s Twins

HAMNET He's in town. He wants to do his new dream play

here in Stratford. Southampton and Essex will pay
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for it. The catch is he needs a boy actor to play one

of the lovers. He wants me in his world, I guess.

TOM So the hitch is …

HAMNET Yes, yes….unfortunately.

TOM Pick me, pick me! I'd love to be the bitch. Let's
swap. Why not?

HAMNET Well, look at us Tom. Think that would fool him?

TOM Maybe (Hamnet looks doubtful.) Well, maybe not.

HAMNET We could ask, I guess, but I don't really want to

help him. He'll be straight back to London once it's
over. (silence) I think I hate him.

TOM Do you miss him?

HAMNET No..yeah…. in a way.

TOM So you hate him for not being here.

HAMNET When did you touch the philosopher's stone?

TOM He's funny, your dad, and clever and handsome.

Not such a bad thing in a father, if you ask me. I
wish my father was handsome.

HAMNET Yes, Tom, that could have helped a lot. Anyway,

you're sixteen. You know more about life. How can
I play a girl? The only one I really know is Judith.
When I give her a hug it's like hugging myself.

TOM Yes, Hamnet my man, I do know a bit about girls. I

checked out Billy's sister yesterday.

HAMNET Really? Where?

TOM Down by the Avon.

Will’s Twins

HAMNET No, where did you check her out?

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TOM Under the bridge.

HAMNET What? I mean what did you check out?

TOM Her mouth, my man. I stole a kiss.

HAMNET How was it?

TOM Nice..warm………a bit damp.

HAMNET But what did you do with the kiss? Once you'd
stolen it?

TOM (tapping head) Put it in the old memory bank…up

here. (silence)

HAMNET So how do you actually steal a kiss, Tom?

TOM Flattery, Hamnet. Flatter them and lie about

yourself. Anything that comes to mind. Say you're
wealthy, a champion wrestler, a scholar even. Tell
them there's more under your shirt than meets the
eye.

HAMNET So what did you tell her?

TOM Well I told her she has eyes like opals and a mouth
like a sliced tomato.

HAMNET And that worked?

TOM And a figure like an hour glass..

HAMNET Can you fall in love with a shape?

TOM Of course..and I told her that she is beyond pretty,

beyond beautiful, beyond gorgeous.

HAMNET Which side of beyond beautiful is she?

TOM Well, a bit on the low side but she's not to know it
and besides, it was a lovely kiss.
Will’s Twins

ANNE (offstage) Hamnet! Hamnet! Where are you, boy?

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TOM Come on, let's go check out the girls down by the
river.

HAMNET Under the bridge.

TOM See if we can steal a kiss. (They exit.)

ANNE Bliss, they call this domestic bliss! Where are you
boy? Judith? Meg?

MEG (Bustles in.) Coming madam, coming. What seems

to be the problem? Trouble afoot?

ANNE Exactly. The chicken drumsticks for supper. Gone!

Gone from the platter in the larder. Why can't you
keep an eye on the household? And pick up those
awful flowers.

MEG No problem madam, don't take it to heart (Anne

exits and Meg picks up flowers.) Stupid tart! Gives
herself airs….don't know why I stay here at times.
There must be some other household that actually
has some money. And the girl Judith… she's a
right little miss in my opinion. She's got her head
well and truly up her own back passage. And
that's my humble opinion. Mind you I'd miss young
Hamnet. Just like he misses that writer dad of his.
(She picks her teeth.) And the chicken wasn't bad..
Hamnet enjoyed it too. (She grabs wine and
glasses and then a loaf of bread and a covered dish.
She sets them down and lifts the lid, looking at the
audience.) Duck….last week's… (Starts to exit.)
…so's the bread. (Exits ad libbing with a smirk as
Anne and Will enter.)

ANNE Red! I saw red, Will, when I saw that chicken was
missing.

WILL Maybe it was the twins, maybe it was me (She

glares at him.) Anything's possible, Anne.. in
London, anyway…in the theatre, always.
Will’s Twins

ANNE Money buys dreams some of the time. Perhaps it

could buy the twins their father back? (Will
removes dish lid.)
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WILL Duck! (Leans forward and sniffs it.) Phew!

ANNE Some bread? (They pick at it without enthusiasm,

in silence. Will pours wine.) So, tell me more
about this dream of yours.

WILL It's complicated. It is set in Athens with a civilised

duke and his wife- to- be and four humble
workmen preparing a play for their wedding. They
are led by a jolly weaver called Nick Bottom.

ANNE Bottom?

WILL Yes, Bottom..but their lives collide with a magical

fairy kingdom led by Oberon, the king of the
fairies and his queen Titiana who quarrel over an
orphan boy. Also, she suspects Oberon of being
unfaithful with a bouncing Amazon..

ANNE Bouncing Amazon! Sounds like your recent

history, Will..

WILL .. but the workman and four love-struck teenage

lovers find themselves outside the city walls in a
magical forest. In this forest Oberon and his fairy,
his jester called Puck, use a magical love juice to
create confusion..

ANNE (enthused) Does it have a dog?

WILL Well, yes…Snout the tinker's dog.. "This dog, my

dog, he says.."

ANNE But what does it do?

WILL Well, not a lot .. it's wooden.

ANNE A wooden dog, not a live one.

WILL No Anne.
Will’s Twins

ANNE Well this is the silliest stuff I've ever heard!

WILL Exactly! It's a little wooden dog without a

speaking part.
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Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd
Scene 1

ANNE Oh, well, perhaps the groundlings will like it..

WILL Anne, trust me, it will work. Let's do this season

and we'll get that coat of arms and buy New Place.

ANNE With its brick and timber, gables and bay

windows. Oh, it's so grand..

WILL So you'll talk to Hamnet for me?

ANNE I will talk to him, Will you know I will.

WILL Poet!

ANNE (coy) Don't be silly!

(They exit. Meg enters, puzzled and gradually
clears the table.)

MEG They puzzle me them two. Like a tempest one

minute and a weird dream the next. I blame the
wine meself. (She pours herself a glass.) Up and
down, hot and cold. Mind you, he's more to blame.
An actor, and a writer! Scum of the earth them
actors. Good for nothing shadows. All that
showing off and bellowing. And blokes that sound
like they've had their machinery removed…you
know….downstairs. Why couldn't he have been a
nice farmer or a merchant or one of them grumpy,
know-it-all teachers? (She exits with wine and
returns lifting the dish lid.) Whew! Slightly older
duck! Ah well.. (She picks gingerly at the bread as
she exits with the duck.)
Will’s Twins

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Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd
 From the publisher - Mahobe Resources (NZ) Ltd

We hope you enjoyed the first scene of Patrick

Spillane’s play “Will’s Twins”. The complete book can
be purchased from our website www.mahobe.co.nz

Will’s Twins
The play is based around a rehearsal of Shakespeare's "A
Midsummer Night's Dream". It moves along at a cracking pace
and will make the audience laugh, until they cry. There is mirth,
there is madness, there are even fairies! Is that a male playing
a female dressed as a male? What is going on here! Are you
confused? Don’t worry. Countless of teachers and students
have had that feeling ever since Shakespeare wrote
“Midsummer Nights Dream”. The story might be much ado
about nothing but in the end all’s well that ends well!

TOO afraid to try Shakespeare in class? Try Will’s Twins. This

is a more accessible, modern version that not only keeps all of
the rich language but will keep your juniors enthralled and
inspired.