The first ever biography of Lady Elizabeth Russell, the woman who waged battle against Shakespeare
Dr Chris Laoutaris graduated from University College London and went on to gain a doctorate from the same institution, where he was awarded a coveted three-year British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship to research Shakespeare and the Countess. After becoming Renaissance Literature Course Convenor at UCL, he achieved a prestigious Birmingham Fellowship at The Shakespeare Institute, where he is currently lecturing. Shakespeare and the Countess was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize and is his first biography.
A splendid and original book
*Sunday Telegraph, Book of the Week*
Fabulous!...I could not recommend it highly enough.
*Alison Weir*
Greatly enjoying Shakespeare and the Countess ... Fascinating how
much archives can still yield.
*Stanley Wells*
I am in love with the brilliant research on display in Shakespeare
and the Countess and how it brings to the fore Lady Elizabeth
Russell, a trailblazing early feminist.
*Observer Books of the Year 2014*
A work of historical and literary detection which takes us straight
to the heart of religious politics in Elizabethan England . . .
there is a great deal to admire in this hugely ambitious book.
*New Statesman*
This is a detailed biography of a vigorous (if not likeable) woman
who stood close to power throughout the reign of Elizabeth I.
[Elizabeth] Russell was a remarkable person - clever, domineering
and ruthless . . . Laoutaris has done a thorough research job
*Sunday Times*
It is a fascinating story and Laoutaris tells it with a winning
combination of scholarly rigour and elegant prose. Contributing
something fresh in the crowded arena of Shakespeare studies is not
easy, but Laoutaris has done precisely that . . . A splendid
book
*Herald Scotland*
Laoutaris delves into all this with immense gusto, introducing his
readers to a dizzying cast of characters and approaching his
subject from myriad different angles. Thanks to [his] impressive
research, this largely forgotten figure emerges as a woman of great
erudition, determination and courage, scarcely less remarkable than
her namesake and contemporary Elizabeth I
*Literary Review*
Elizabeth Russell was a force to be reckoned with [and] is the
indefatigable heroine of [the] book . . . [She was] the woman who
forced the company [the Chamberlain's Men] across the Thames to
create their crucible of theatrical poetry, the Globe
*The Times*
[An] energetic and enterprising book. He has done much original
research, adding new details to the history of the [Blackfriars]
playhouse, and to our knowledge of Elizabethan and Jacobean
Blackfriars . . . Elizabeth Russell was a powerful figure . . . a
fearsome Elizabethan version of Lady Bracknell or Bertie Wooster's
Aunt Agatha . . . Laoutaris has done some very valuable archival
work . . . It is certainly a story worth telling, and Laoutaris
tells it well.
*London Review of Books*
Chris Laoutaris sheds light on the life of the woman who waged
battle against the Bard
*Big Issue North*
Genuinely groundbreaking . . . It's a thrilling tale and Laoutaris
tells it superbly, with fluency and passion and a masterful eye for
the dramatic. Emphatic, meticulously researched and strikingly
original.
*Marylebone Journal (Book of the Week)*
A distinguished biography . . . [and] an impressive feat of
archival research by Chris Laoutaris.
*Around the Globe (the magazine of Shakespeare’s Globe)*
[T]he ambitious, crafty, and eagerly litigious Elizabeth Russell .
. . takes centre stage in this power struggle-filled Elizabethan
drama. The self-proclaimed countess threatened Shakespeare's
livelihood . . . but her opposition inadvertently resulted in the
creation of the famous Globe Theatre, which secured the Bard's
legacy . . . Russell's voice is heard strongly . . . As Laoutaris
shows, Russell - a "staunch Puritan," funerary monument designer,
and the only female sheriff in Elizabethan England - was worthy of
starring in a Shakespearean drama.
*Publishers Weekly, USA*
[A] tale of 16th century NIMBYism. The Puritan termagant Elizabeth
Russell mounted a successful campaign against the . . . theatre
company, which boasted one W. Shakespeare as a partner . . .
[Laoutaris] has unearthed a fascinating story.
*Independent*
Life comes close to imitating art in Shakespeare and the Countess.
Here Laoutaris resuscitates as the great playwright's foil the
long-forgotten Elizabeth Russell, a self-proclaimed dowager
countess and unblushing harridan, who could have stepped out of a
turbulent history play . . . Through her, Laoutaris throws
fascinating light on the Puritans' determined fight against both
Roman Catholicism and the newly established Church of England . . .
[and] on her success in preventing the Burbages, the playwright's
partners, from opening an indoor theatre in Blackfriars beside her
home.
*New York Times*
An engaging portrait of this powerful noblewoman . . . The author
shows, by deftly weaving the events during Russell's lifetime and
her personal impacts played therein, that he exhaustively
researched his subject . . .an immensely riveting read.
*Library Journal, USA*
It could be a tale for the stage itself, involving an ambitious
parvenu, a self-styled countess, more than a hint of treachery and
one of the more spectacular examples of historical Nimbysim . . .
[This is] the story of how William Shakespeare's early plans for a
theatre . . . were thwarted by the outrageous Lady Russell.
*Daily Telegraph*
The story of Shakespeare and the Countess has all the hallmarks of
one of his famous plays - treachery, deception, death and triumph .
. . [A] fantastic tale . . . [Laoutaris] discovered a web of deceit
and a true villain worthy of any of Shakespeare's plays - as well
as information previously thought lost'.
*Daily Mail*
One word William Shakespeare didn't invent but could have: NIMBY.
Laoutaris tells the story of Elizabeth Russell, the wealthy and
educated daughter of King Edward VI's tutor. She argued that a new
playhouse would bring 'all manner of vagrant and lewd persons' to
her London neighborhood. Stymied, the theater group built the
soon-to-be-famous Globe in another area.
*New York Post, ‘Week’s Must-Read Books’*
Surprising . . . interesting. . . [Elizabeth Russell] was certainly
a rich, famous, extraordinary, cosmopolitan and ambitious woman who
by turns fascinated and exasperated the men around her . . .
Laoutaris has discovered a lot of fascinating details . . .
Elizabeth deserves the years of research . . . Laoutaris has given
her; she can now join the gallery of neglected women resurrected by
feminist scholarship.
*The Washington Post*
Lady Elizabeth Russell is the star of Shakespeare and the Countess
. . . Historian and biographer Chris Laoutaris tells the story of
Russell's life, her epic legal battles and her capricious, violent
world with sympathy, scholarship and vivid description. He has done
extensive original research to piece together new insights and map
the complex connections of Elizabethan society. Shakespeare's story
is a central incident . . . strengthened and illuminated by the
broad and deep context Laoutaris has built up.
*Shelf Awareness, USA*
No, we have no idea why the formidable historical figure Lady
Elizabeth Russell hasn't been the star of a play or movie yet . . .
She's a compelling villain/heroine. Infuriated that a new theatre
was opening right next to her home, Lady Elizabeth (who styled
herself the Dowager Countess) mounted a furious assault against
Shakespeare's new home, driven by religious passion . . . and,
let's face it, good old not-in-my-backyard-ism . . . This showdown
is presented with verve by historian Chris Laoutaris and virtually
every critic has commented that it's a tale worthy of Shakespeare's
gifts
*‘Bookfilter’s Best of Summer Picks’, Broadway Direct*
The season's big mainstream Shakespeare book . . . Elizabeth
Russell is a terrific subject for a biography, and Laoutaris is a
hugely energetic narrator who brings every detail of his story to
life . . . and it's all so entertaining . . . The whole thing is
carried off with storytelling aplomb and deep, sometimes ground
breaking research.
*Open Letters Monthly, USA*
Always engaging and informative. Readers will get a bird's eye view
of court life, religious infighting, political scheming, competing
spies and international intrigue at the turn of the 17th century.
Laoutaris is an indefatigable researcher and a fine prose
stylist.
*Providence Journal, USA*
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