1608. It’s miserable. The plague has rocked London to its core, and if it’s not that, the city is ruled by a bizarre and unpredictable regime that seems more interested in its own self-image than the well-being of its population. To make things worse, Shakespeare has lost both his audience and his touch. In short, everything sucks.
This is where I, Will: A Late Romance, the kick-off production of Riverside Theatre’s 2026/27 season, opens and our story begins. Performances run Sept. 10-27 in Iowa City.
Directed by Adam Knight and written by Scott Carter, I, Will follows our out-of-touch Shakespeare as he struggles with his new play, Timon of Athens, while trying to stay in the mainstream. Also, just to add another extra struggle just for fun, Will finds himself in the middle of a marital dispute between an innkeeper named Mountjoy, his daughter Mary, and his apprentice Stephen, who wishes to marry, well, Mary.
It is a complex story about relationships, control, creative bankruptcy, healing and everything spinning around Shakespeare’s world, both internally and externally, that all culminates in one heartfelt tale. Carter’s script is smart, peppered with references and tropes present in Shakespeare’s work. It was fun to see a story about Shakespeare told in a way that Shakespeare would write. There were several times throughout the show when I found myself chuckling along with other Shakespeare fans in my audience.
A lot of these moments came from the presence of a landlady’s ghost, played beautifully by Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers in a hilarious yet emotionally resonant performance, and from the presence of the prophetic, intimidating and hilarious god Jupiter. What better way to tell a story about Shakespeare than by giving him a taste of his own medicine?
But that’s not to say that you’ll only enjoy the show if you like Shakespeare. In the center of this intricate narrative lies a deep emotional core. I, Will is a story about love, control and knowing when it’s time to let go. Whether it be the relationships between a parent and a child, a body of work or something else entirely, we all have to do it at some point.
This theme is best exemplified by the characters of Mary and Stephen, played by Joey Lepire and Elizabeth Nieman. The young lovers find themselves sneaking around onstage, quietly fighting back against Mary’s father — the tough, yet fair and kindhearted Mountjoy, played with a beautiful mix of ferocity and tenderness by K. Michael Moore.
Along with all their sneaking efforts, the two struggle to figure out their own relationship, and how far they’re willing to go to help one another be themselves, live happily, and quite literally find their voices.
However, this show is anchored, controlled and led with incredible grace by Tim Budd as William Shakespeare himself. From the moment he stepped on stage, Budd ceased to exist, and Shakespeare spoke through him. Budd played a god-become-man, a literary and theatrical titan brought down by human desires exposed for all to see. The actor, a mainstay of Riverside Theatre’s programming, embodied Shakespeare’s weakness, his anxieties, his humor and his wit with incredible empathy. It was easy to identify with this Will.
It wasn’t just Budd, though. Right from the get-go, the infectious energy of Bobby and Dick, played by Deucalion Martin and Joshua Fryvecind, helped springboard us into the story. Dick and Bobby are longtime Shakespeare actors and collaborators, and help set the scene for this act in the playwright’s life. They capture and keep our attention, handling plot points and exposition with gravitas and tact.
The two complemented Budd’s performance incredibly well. Each time the actors shared the stage, their rapport made it easy to believe Will, Dick and Bobby had been in each other’s company for a while. This wasn’t just Shakespeare with his actors; this was Shakespeare with his friends. They’ve all experiences successes like Hamlet and failures like Anthony and Cleopatra, and this history felt incredibly real.
And although there are many emotional levels to the show, there’s plenty of humor to be found as well. Most notable are the characters of George/Harold, played by Aaron Pozdol, and Luce, played by Jannette Luu. Luu brought a clever mix of sassiness, fun and smarts to the table, outwitting even the great Will Shakespeare during some fun back-and-forth moments. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Pozdol’s ability to flip on a dime from hilarity to barbarity, often showcased through George, who has written a play he is very protective of. Each punchline was nailed at just the right moment and never came across as too obnoxious. Unless, of course, the character needed to be. Then it just turned into campy fun.
Overall, this show is a fun time that demands your attention. This is not a show you can go into casually; it rewards you for paying attention. In the end, even if you become lost in the plot, the human emotions that tether I, Will together stick in your mind and have you examining different aspects of your own life. It speaks not only to the continued influence of Shakespeare’s work, but of the elusive, complex character that is Shakespeare himself.
