By Keith Tomasek, Aug. 12, 2018

Every Sunday in The Shakespeare Actors’ Book Club you’ll discover a new book, selected by an actor performing Shakespeare.

It’s a chance to shine a light on three of our favourite things here at Stratford Festival Reviews: books, actors and Shakespeare!

Ben Carlson and the company.
photo: Tim MathesonBen Carlson is acting at Bard On The Beach in Vancouver, BC., playing Macbeth in “Macbeth”, and Jaques in “As You Like It.” Carlson has played: Hamlet twice (Joseph Jefferson Award, Best Performance, Chicago 2006), Macbeth, Pericles, Benedick, Petruchio, Leontes, Brutus, Berowne, Apemantus, Octavius, Fluellen, Feste, Touchstone, and many others, at Stratford, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and the National Arts Centre. He spent 12 seasons at the Shaw Festival.

The book
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King

How did you discover this book?
A disparate group of friends have been reading King lately. They all mentioned the Dark Tower.

What drew you into the story?
Simple! Stephen King is a great storyteller.

If you could, would you like to inhabit the setting for a year? Why?
Not a chance. Too much dark magic. And North keeps changing.

How does the book you’re reading relate to, or complement, the theatre piece you are currently working on?
Most of King’s book deal with some form of evil. Macbeth is a play about falling uncontrollably into evil.

How has this book influenced your thinking?
The series makes me want to read everything King’s written. I don’t think I’ll make it, I’m already doing that with Dickens, and he wrote way fewer books than King.

How do you find time to read?
I have no idea.

Hardcover, paperback or e-reader?
paperback.

Click to get The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King.

ALL THE ACTORS IN THE SHAKESPEARE ACTORS’ BOOK CLUB
Jason Cadieux – Shakespeare in High Park, Toronto.
Kayvon Khoshkam – Bard on the Beach, Vancouver.
Skye Brandon – Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
Garry Williams – Shakespeare by the Sea, Halifax.
Heather Cant – Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
Ben Carlson – Bard on the Beach, Vancouver.
Sébastien Heins – Stratford Festival, Ontario