King of Shadows facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 
Gregory cover of Puffin paperback ed. (2000)
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| Author | Susan Cooper |
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| Cover artist | Bill Gregory (depicted) |
| Country | US, UK |
| Genre | Children's historical novel, timeslip fantasy |
| Publisher | Margaret K. McElderry, Bodley Head, UK |
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Publication date
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October 1999, November 1999 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 186 pp, 181 pp |
| Awards | None |
| ISBN | 0-689-82817-9 |
| OCLC | 40444020 |
| LC Class | PZ7.C7878 Ki 1999 |
King of Shadows is an exciting historical novel for young readers by Susan Cooper. It was published in 1999. In the United Kingdom, this book was nominated for two big awards: the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
Contents
What's the Story About?
The main character is a talented young actor named Nathan 'Nat' Field. He comes from Greenville, North Carolina. Nat is chosen to join a special acting group called the Company of Boys. They plan to perform two famous plays by William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream and Julius Caesar. They will perform these plays in London, at the newly rebuilt Globe Theatre. This theatre looks just like the original one from Shakespeare's time.
Nat is picked to play Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Pindarus in Julius Caesar. As he heads to his first rehearsal, he feels very strange. He also notices a bad smell. When he returns to the house where he is staying, he feels sick and goes to bed early.
When Nat wakes up, he is in a different room. A boy he doesn't know is talking to him with an old-fashioned accent. The boy says he thought Nat had the plague, a serious illness from the past. Nat soon realizes he has traveled back in time! He is now in the year 1599, exactly 400 years ago. This was when the first Globe Theatre was built.
In 1599, Nat meets the famous playwright William Shakespeare himself. He gets to act alongside Shakespeare in the very plays he was rehearsing in his own time. Nat experiences what theatre was truly like hundreds of years ago. Before he knows it, he is back in his hospital bed in the present day. He isn't sure if his adventure was real or just a dream. Later, his co-actors, Rachel Levin and Gil Warmun, try to figure out who Nat might have been in the past.
Meet the Characters
Here are some of the important characters you'll meet in King of Shadows:
Characters from 1999
- Nathan 'Nat' Field: The main character, a young actor who travels through time.
- Arby: A serious play producer who recruits Nat.
- Gil Warmun: One of Nat's co-actors in the present day.
- Rachel Levin: Another of Nat's co-actors.
- Aunt Jen: Nat's aunt.
Characters from 1599
- William Shakespeare: The famous playwright and actor Nat meets in the past.
- Richard Burbage: A well-known actor from Shakespeare's time.
- Queen Elizabeth I: The Queen of England during Shakespeare's era.
- Will Kempe: A famous comedian and actor from Shakespeare's company.
Actors and Their Roles
In the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, the characters from 1999 play these roles:
- Nat Field as Puck
- Gil Warmun as Oberon
- David Roper as Bottom
- Ray Danza as Theseus
- Joe Wilson as Hippolyta
- Alan Wong as Titania
- Eric as Mustard-Seed
Stage Adaptations
King of Shadows was turned into a play for the stage in 2005. The New York State Theatre Institute (NYSTI) performed it first. P. J. Verhoest played Nat, David Bunce was Shakespeare, John Romeo played Burbage, and Aaron Marquise was Roper.
