Will's Twins is a play by Patrick Spillane based around a rehearsal of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Young writer Will Shakespeare arrives home at his Stratford home to a frosty reception from his wife Anne Hathaway. He is broke but hopes to use some of his company and his son Hamnet to stage a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". 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 and Meg the housekeeper help him out ...

Patrick Spillane is New Zealand’s premier school playwright with a unique proven teenage theatre voice. Previous top selling plays include “Animal Fallout”, “Grace” and the best seller “Rosie” (10 reprints).  Will's Twins also contains literature and language activities that teachers can use before and after the play. This means it is fully contained unit of work for your junior high or senior high drama course.

To download and read the first 32 pages CLICK HERE

Here is a review by author Jeanette Bell about a Glendowie College Year 12 Drama class production of Wills Twins held in October.

Will's Twins

It was the most anticipated event of the year, (with the possible exception of the school ball), following the successful book launch of ‘Will’s Twins’, our own Patrick Spillane’s latest play.

Congratulations to producer Cherise Stone for superb casting, sumptuous costuming and highly physical staging. There were a lot of expectations surrounding this performance and she took it in her stride. The final performance was magical and hilarious.

Cain Parangi had the honour of starring as William Shakespeare, and dominated the play with a powerful stage presence. Cain and the cast wanted to do their best for Mr Spillane and succeeded. The twins, Craig McGregor and Ximena Smith had charming and busy roles as the twins (‘little bookends”) and performed with youthful vigour and a delightful closeness. Chelsea Smith was a long-suffering Anne Hathaway and played her part with sincerity and subtlety. Hamish Wilson was an assured, rollicking Tom who literally bounced off his mate Billy (Sam Wilson) as they fought for their girls. The lively Hermia role was ably shared by Natalie Lentell and Najlaa Al-Abayechi. Ben Bull and Anita Tana were powerful in their Oberon and Titania fairy quarrels with Dean Szentes flitting merrily between them as Puck. Alice Mitchell, as Bottom humorously led the gauche Mechanicals but it was Rosie Kelly, with her comic timing, who almost stole the show as the irreverent Meg, the housekeeper.

The ending of the play completed the brilliance. Patrick has woven the threads of the complex plots and subplots together, and in the last act there is a final twist as we see the teenagers’ real life romance reflecting those in the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” rehearsal. I suppose it’s really drama reflecting drama, reflecting drama. A play within a play within a play. It really was magic.

What teachers have said about Will’s Twins "..... charming ..... amusing ..... great fun ..... moves along at a cracking pace ..... effortlessly contextualises the cool things about the Elizabethan age .... challenging ..... wonderful opportunities for English students to explore language and ideal for use with drama students ..... a superb vibrant and rich play for juniors or seniors.”; "... a lively junior-high English class text ...a charming senior-high drama performance script..... a play that will excite, inspire and ignite your students".

Mahobe also sells a DVD of Selwyn College's excellent 2008 production. CLICK HERE to view part of the first Act. 

Many students write to Patrick Spillane for biographical details.

My latest play "Will's Twins" (2009) about Shakespeare, his twins and a rehearsal of "A Midsummer Night's dream" is available from Mahobe and is going well in junior English classes and senior drama classes. This play evolved from years of directing and teaching Shakespeare, a love of his work and my fascination with twins. I once had three sets in the one class! Despite the huge volume of writing on Shakespeare I relied on the marvellous biographies by Bill Bryson, Peter Ackroyd and the Ann Hathaway biography by Germaine Greer to immerse myself in his world. I ignored all spin-offs and adaptations apart from a rock musical script I wrote myself for "AMSN'sDream" some years ago which went very well. As always I like to do social/emotional research before I write. The premise as always was "What if.." What if both Shakespeare's twins had lived to teenage years and Hamnet was macho and girls can't be on stage and he was broke and his wife was annoyed and worried and didn't like his writing and they had a housekeeper called Meg who interfered and....

I also have a play for Year 9 called "Animal Fallout" which has had 10 editions over the years and is about a young animal rights girl, Virginia. Another called "Grace" is about the Americanisation of NZ attitudes & mores in the 60's.

I was head of English for 20 yrs at Glendowie College where I still teach part-time. I have two adult boys & 3 little grandchildren and an undergraduate step-son so I've always loved writing about boys and their sisters! My own sister (Judith) was/is close to me and she fell in love with a marine briefly when we were kids. She helped me through adolescence a lot. We were bought up Catholic, lived at St Clair beach and my dad fought in WW2. Our family wasn't violent though! Bung is based on a younger mate of mine who is very irreverent and I tried to imagine him as a kid in that era. I gave him a glass eye to help create a bit of fun. Similarly with Nana Hannah in "Grace". I had a tough, loving nana Hannah in Dunedin who had an outside dunny with a door open at all times... but in the play she is American, abrasive, fun and loves to dance. Writers often take their memories and grow/transform them.

"Rosie" has had many performances in schools and much success. It is the most personal of my plays as I celebrate Dunedin, explore the complexities of family, look at the innocence of the period,celebrate our soldiers' sacrifices and think about my parents' interests and beliefs - the whole era from Marx brothers to movies. (My dad looked like Humphrey Bogart).

I start most writing with "emotional research". Some broad, necessary facts but mainly reading articles, diaries etc from a period. For "Will's Twins" I read Shakespearian biography as I said, for Grace I read heart-breaking diaries from american soldiers in the Vietnam war. My inspiration also is all the great feisty kids I've taught. l've loved creating a time-tunnel through which they can see our beautiful country's history and explore their own troubles & issues. The play is fun but tough-minded also & has had a grand run as have I. Teaching has always been my first love & I'm not writing at present but wouldn't mind doing a Musical. I'm grateful for my teenage audience over many years and their dedicated teachers. Literary Heroes & Heroines in a digital world.