The Playmaker - Hardcover

Cheaney, J.B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037580577X ISBN 13: 9780375805776

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2000

Synopsis

A thrilling romp through Elizabethan London, peopled with actors, imposters, spies, traitors--and a young apprentice in Shakespeare's theater company.

After the death of his mother, Richard Malory journeys to London--seeking his fortune and perhaps the father who abandoned him as a child. The year is 1597. Elizabeth is queen. Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain's men are packing the theater. And the heads of Catholic insurgents are impaled on the Tower gates. One 14-year-old boy, tossed into the teeming crowds, should arouse no one's interest.

But within a week of his arrival, Richard has been robbed, beaten, and threatened at knife-point. Someone wants him to leave London. Determined to figure out what he has stumbled into, Richard finds a place to hide--in plain sight but in disguise as a player on the stage.

J. B. Cheaney spins an intricate, atmospheric tale of a young man, finding his place in the world, surrounded by people who are acting--some for their living, some for their lives. Whom can he trust? Where do his loyalties lie? Must Richard play the part set out for him--or can he become the playmaker of his own life?

About this title

Review

The Playmaker, by first-time novelist J.B. Cheaney, is a lively historical fiction of Shakespearean proportions. The year is 1597. Young Richard Malory has come to the rough streets of London to seek his missing father, who abandoned the family long ago. But after meeting a series of dead ends, he resigns himself to the fact that his lost father may not wish to be found. In his despair, he is persuaded by the pretty maid Starling to audition for Lord Chamberlain's Men, an acting troupe that numbers among its players Will Shakespeare himself. Richard immerses himself in the stage; never noticing that someone is following his every move along London's twisted streets--someone who knows Richard's mysterious father and of his allegiance to a secret society that has sworn to overthrow the Queen. It will take Richard's fumbling detective work and Starling's quick eye to uncover both a traitor to the throne and the identity of Richard's father.

While the conspiracy plotline will undoubtedly keep teens reading to find out who or what is behind the traitorous plan, it is Cheaney's engaging descriptions of the Elizabethan theatre that flesh out the story and (literally) steal scene after scene. Chaotic costume changes, instantaneous line memorization, and the problems young men have playing young women are all skillfully and humorously drawn. History teachers will enjoy assigning this novel (along with Susan Cooper's King of Shadows) as young Richard meets not only Shakespeare but also his rival, Ben Jonson, and even spies the "white-faced figure" of Queen Elizabeth from afar. The Playmaker is a promising first effort. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From the Back Cover

"This splendid story, told in language both vivid and seductive, is about all the big things in life: life and death, loyalty and treachery, truth and lies, substance and shadow. J.B. Cheaney has given us a marvelous adventure about a boy who must survive by himself in a dangerous wourld in order to find out who and what he truly is." -- Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 037580577X
• ISBN 13: 9780375805776
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320