The Shakespeare garden club: A fantasy

In Short

Set in a room in Ann Hathaway's cottage, this one-act fantasy play depicts a meeting of the Shakespeare Garden Club, presided over by Lady Macbeth. Famous female characters from Shakespeare’s plays—including Portia, Juliet, Ophelia, Rosalind, and Cleopatra—assemble to debate and select the flowers, herbs, trees, and vegetables that will transform the unsightly, debris-strewn banks of the River Avon. Through lively banter, personal anecdotes, and a collaborative alphabetical tree-naming game, the literary figures pool their respective traits and memories to design a flourishing landscape, ultimately concluding with reflections on human will and a prophecy about the enduring legacy of garden clubs.

The Story

The meeting opens in Ann Hathaway's Stratford cottage, where Ann welcomes guests Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, noting that a grave and solemn gathering of the Shakespeare Garden Club is underway. Members arrive in succession, including Perdita, Desdemona, Cordelia, Katherine the Shrew, Jessica, Rosalind in man's attire, Portia in a mortar-board and gown, Juliet, Titania, Ophelia, and a regally attired Cleopatra. Lady Macbeth calls the meeting to order, and Portia reads the minutes of the previous gathering. The minutes recall an address by Will Shakespeare himself, who lamented the ruined condition of the River Avon's banks—strewn with broken flagons, old rushes, and defunct felines—and urged the club to clear away the filth and plant flowers and fruits.

Following the reading, the floor opens for suggestions. Titania proposes fairy-realm blooms like wild thyme, oxlips, nodding violet, woodbine, musk roses, and Dian's bud to keep people chaste. Juliet suggests the plantain leaf for bruises, mandrake, and a pomegranate tree for the nightingale. Ophelia timidly recommends rosemary for remembrance, pansies for thought, fennel, rue, and an abundance of violets, while avoiding unfaithful columbine and dissembling daisies. Perdita suggests lavender, mint, savory, marjoram, pale primroses, flower-de-luce, and crown imperial. Cordelia shares a religious tale of how the Crown Imperial lost its pride and bowed its head in the Garden of Gethsemane. Rosaline sings a springtime verse about daisies and violets, while Cleopatra laments that Egyptian figs, olives, dates, and grapes would shrivel in England's cold clime, though she praises laurel chaplets.

Ophelia lists evil things to avoid, such as aconite, hemlock, and nettles. Rosalind speaks for the greenwood tree, recounting how she dealt with a man carving her name into bark by marrying him. Mistress Ford suggests grains and kitchen spices, and Mistress Page champions wholesome vegetables like cabbage, carrots, and onions—though Lady Macbeth quickly dismisses onions to spare the air. Cordelia brings up berries, quoting King Henry V on wholesome berries thriving best neighbored by baser quality.

Portia then proposes an alphabetical tree-naming game. Starting with Mistress Page and moving through the circle, the members successfully name trees from A to Y, covering almond, ash, aspen, apple, balsam, birch, cherry, elm, fig, hazelnut, lemon, oak, mistletoe, palm, quince, sycamore, walnut, willow, and yew. Ann Hathaway expresses gratitude for the goodly list. Desdemona shares a final thought from Iago comparing human bodies to gardens where wills act as gardeners. Lady Macbeth prophesies that long after they have turned to dust and Shakespeare is ancient history, future garden clubs will remember Avon's shores made lovely by their suggestions. Cleopatra moves to adjourn, and the curtain falls.

How It Unfolds

• The gathering commences: Ann Hathaway greets the Merry Wives of Windsor in her Stratford cottage before a colorful roster of Shakespearean heroines arrives to take their seats.
• Reading the mandate: Lady Macbeth calls the meeting to order, and Portia reads the minutes detailing Will Shakespeare's distress over the littered, unkempt banks of the River Avon.
• Proposing the flora: Members take turns suggesting plants, with Titania invoking fairy blooms, Juliet recalling honeymoons and nightingales, and Ophelia offering rosemary for remembrance and an abundance of violets.
• Memories and warnings: Cordelia shares a legend of the Crown Imperial in Gethsemane, Cleopatra dreams of Egyptian date trees and laurel chaplets, and Ophelia lists noxious weeds to exclude.
• The alphabetical game: Portia organizes a collaborative alphabetical tree-naming exercise, moving letter by letter from almond and ash down to willow and yew.
• Parting reflections: Desdemona recites a metaphor about wills acting as gardeners, Lady Macbeth prophesies future garden club legacies, and Cleopatra moves to adjourn the meeting.

The People

• Lady Macbeth: Serves as the dignified and ambitious President of the club, keeping the meeting moving forward and guiding the members toward their goal.
• Portia: Acts as the strict, successful attorney-at-law and Secretary, defending procedure, reading the minutes, and introducing the alphabetical game.
• Ophelia: Transforms from a timid, melancholy figure into an eager contributor who advocates passionately for remembrance herbs, pansies, and violets.
• Katherine: The formerly untamed Shrew who cuts through formalities with sharp commentary, teasing peers and ultimately supporting her fellow members.
• Cleopatra: Appears regally attired and speaks with languid detachment, longing for the warm climate, figs, and laurel chaplets of Egypt.
• Cordelia: The kind religious daughter of King Lear who shares a poignant moral tale about the Crown Imperial flower and ponders human nature.

In Its Own Voice

Forsooth, ’tis a meeting here to-day of the Shakespeare Garden Club--and like to be grave and solemn, so none better than you Merry Wives of Windsor to cheer me up.

Ann Hathaway expresses her need for lighthearted company before presiding over a serious civic session.

Madam President, my suggestions come from realms of fairy land as I dream, half-waking, on a bank where the wild thyme blows; where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.

Titania introduces her ethereal vision for carpeting the marshy riverbanks with wild woodland flora.

Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners, so that if we will plant nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop, and weed up thyme... the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.

Desdemona borrows Iago's words to frame the club's physical task as an internal moral philosophy.

What It's Really About

The play explores the metaphorical intersection of human nature, agency, and artistic legacy. By translating the psychological landscapes of Shakespeare's famous characters into literal garden planning, the work examines how personal histories and temperaments shape one's view of beauty and duty. It raises questions about stewardship: how communities mend neglected spaces, how memory and remembrance are preserved through living symbols like herbs and trees, and how individual wills act as gardeners over human character. It also playfully investigates domesticity, contrasting the dramatic conflicts of the heroines' original tragedies with the domestic cooperation of a municipal committee.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love literary pastiche, theatrical whimsy, and classic drama will delight in seeing legendary tragic and comedic figures gathered together to engage in mundane local politics. It feels like an affectionate, lighthearted parlour game played by devoted scholars of the Elizabethan era, offering a charming glimpse into early twentieth-century community theater culture.

However, contemporary readers should note its period limitations. The play relies entirely on readers possessing prior familiarity with Shakespeare's plays to catch the rapid-fire references to characters' backstories, marriages, and personality traits. Without that literary context, many of the running jokes and character-driven asides will feel opaque. Furthermore, its gentle, didactic framing lacks modern narrative tension, functioning more as a whimsical recitation of botanical lists than a plot-driven story. Those who appreciate clever wordplay and gentle period humor, though, will find it a warm and inventive curiosity.