"The ambitious project of the Shakespeare NOW series is to bridge the gap between 'scholarly thinking and a public audience' and 'public audience and scholarly thinking'. Scholars are encouraged to write in a way accessible to a general readership and readers to rise to the challenge and not be afraid of new ideas and the adventure they offer. There are other bridges the series is ambitious to cross: 'formal, political or theoretical boundaries' - history and philosophy, theory, and performance." English Vol. 58, 2009

English Vol.

In The King and I, Philippa Kelly gives us an original and very personal response to a play she obviously loves and knows intimately. Remarkably, she is able to use the play as a prism through which to contemplate her life journey and to construct a commentary on modern Australia - refreshing and insightful.

John Bell, AO, OBE

In The King and I, Philippa Kelly has done a rare thing: she has written an original and deeply personal book about a Shakespearean tragedy that has been the object of exhausting and seemingly exhaustive critical attention. By bringing her life experience to bear on King Lear, by opening herself so completely and undefensively to its words and characters, Kelly illuminates the play's enduring power and freshness. At once a touching autobiographical memoir and a reflection on Australian history and culture, The King and I is a meditation on the contemporary relevance of Shakespeare's most searing tragedy.

Stephen Greenblatt, Author of Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

Reviewed in Cahiers Elisabethains

Cahiers Elisabethains

Kelly's way of thinking about art as alive within culture is contagious: while reading I wrestled with about precisely how I think this play is embedded within our culture and alive within myself... it is energising to read a book unashamedly invested in exploring the complex intersection between life and art.

Southerly Journal

A fascinating exploration of Australian history and culture as seen through an intensely personal grapple with Shakespeare's monumental tragedy. Ms. Kelly's American readers will find that her observations about racism, immigration and the treatment of the elderly hit uncomfortably close to home.

Robert Hurwitt, Theater Critic, San Francisco Chronicle