Hamlet and the Psychotherapist by Michael Kerr Scott

 Hamlet and the Psychotherapist 

by Michael Kerr Scott

Hamlet and the Psychotherapist by Michael Kerr Scott was published on 27th January 2023 by Edward Everett Rood. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.

Synopsis

Hamlet and the Psychotherapist is a time-travelling adventure in which Jacob Fortune, the psychotherapist, travels back to Elizabethan England to try and save Hamlet from his fate - and find out if Shakespeare is the true author of the famous play. 

This fascinating novel prompts many unusual questions about the most famous play in the world

It explores the mind of the quizzical Hamlet himself, and of Shakespeare - if he was indeed, the author

Can Hamlet be saved from himself and can William Shakespeare be proved to be the author of the play and of others attributed to him?

The novel features a 21st-century Psychotherapist of mixed race, Jacob Fortune, who doesn't like the age-old classic play - especially its conclusion. Nor does he believe that the name 'William Shakespeare' was anything other than a 'commercial marketing ploy' for the Elizabethan theatre

In detective style, through virtual reality, he travels back to try to get into the mind of Hamlet, in order to change the narrative of the play and also to prove himself right about the false claim of authorship. Jacob's story takes us on a light-heated journey through the England of Elizabeth I, but is intertwined with his own experience of love and relationships in the reign of Elizabeth II. He and his colleagues in Psychotherapists for U have troubles of their own, regarding what it means to be male/female/non-binary in their gender identity.

The novel has surprising twists and turns along the way

My Review

This is one of those books that I wish I had been able to read when I was studying A level English Literature; especially as Hamlet was one of the Shakespeare texts, along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. The book challenges you to think about Hamlet and various other Shakespeare characters in a different way , with the aim of stopping Hamlet murdering his Uncle and Mother as well as preventing Ophelia's suicide.

I found the book very thought provoking as it provides an interesting angle by treating the characters as patients in a psychotherapist's chair and consequently poses a lot of questions for the reader to think about within the actual play as well as  Shakespeare as the writer. This also shows Hamlet in a different perspective to the one which we see in the actual play.

The whole idea of the book is that Jacob, the Psychotherapist, tries to get into Hamlet's mind, so that he can prevent the devastation that is wreaked throughout the play. Interspersed with this is the real time Jacob and his relationships within the 4 Psychotherapists for U company that he is a partner of and the intriguing questioning of gender identification and its relevance , and importance, within society.

This is an interesting novel that will certainly get you thinking and looking at Hamlet, the play, in a different light. It also has some surprising twists and turns along the way to keep you intrigued.

About the Author

Michael Scott is a noted theatre critic, and a widely published authority on Shakespeare and on Elizabethan drama.

His books include John Marston's Plays: Theme, Structure and Performance (Macmillan 1978); Renaissance Drama & A Modern Audience (Palgrave Macmillan, 1982); Shakespeare & The Modern Dramatist (St. Martin's Press, 1989); Shakespeare, A Complete introduction (John Murray Press, 2017).

He has previously published fiction as Michael Kerr Scott: Arthur, Legends of the King (Albert Bridge Books, 2017).

He is currently Fellow and Senior Dean at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, and Director of the Future of the Humanities Project with Georgetown University, Washington, DC.