Fund This: The Bard Travels To The Modern Day In ‘My Friend Will’

Welcome to the Fund This column! Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.

Project Name: My Friend Will

Asking For: $8,00 on Kickstarter

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $5,515

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 21

Description: What would happen if William Shakespeare traveled forward in time to the present day? What would he think about our artistic culture, our mannerisms, and our worldly food options? All those questions will be answered in Elijah Guo‘s My Friend Will, which will bring The Bard into the year 2016.

In My Friend Will, Guo will play Jake, a typical struggling-big-city-actor type who becomes Shakespeare’s best friend and his guide to the modern world. Their shared adventures will serve as a commentary on the evolution of art across hundreds of years as well as a uniquely-framed exploration of New York City culture.

Jake’s character will be examined as well — even if he isn’t the main attraction. The Bard (whose performer has not yet been credited) knows who the star of the show is and isn’t afraid to ham it up for the camera. If you were the most famous playwright in history, the pitch video seems to ask us, wouldn’t you be kind of pompous, too?

Creator Bio: Guo is an actor and writer whose TV credits include The Blacklist and High Maintenance. He also, of course, has some experience with Shakespeare’s plays; his bio lists a role in a production of As You Like It.

Best Perk: For $50, Shakespeare will write you a sonnet about the topic of your choosing. If you’re not sure which topic to pick, this book might provide some inspiration.

Why You Should Fund It: My Friend Will‘s concept is a delicate one, and as anyone who has ever had to sit through an interminable time-shifted version of Hamlet knows, modern-day Shakespeare can only be executed by someone who really knows his stuff. Guo is one of those people. As part of his Kickstarter campaign, he has shared three new Shakespearean sonnets, which blend Elizabethan language, self-aware comedy, and (of course) iambic pentameter. They’re a lot of fun, and they inspire confidence for the project as a whole. Even if you find the language of Shakespeare’s plays to be too arcane for your tastes, you’re still likely to find My Friend Will amusing.

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