Who was Shakespeare's wife Agnes, or Anne as she's been known to most historians, and what was her relationship to the man, eight years her junior, who ended up becoming one of the great poets and playwrights in Western Civilization?Developed in parallel, but separately, from the Oscar-winning film by Chloe Zhao, the theatrical play Hamnet, was adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti and first performed three years ago in London. Both the play and film were adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel from 2020. And the Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play has just arrived at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco after touring in DC and Chicago.Having seen the film version very recently, it was hard not to make constant comparisons about how the material of the novel was treated. O'Farrell sought to bring Shakespeare's likely long-suffering wife out of the darkness of his big shadow, and treat her with more generosity, via fiction, than many male historians and Shakespeare scholars have. Most of the latter groups have tended to believe that Shakespeare had little kind feeling toward his wife, that they spent many years apart when he was becoming a famous player and playwright in London, and they point to a perceived slight in his will, leaving Anne his "second-best bed," as proof of the chilliness of their relationship.But, other historians have pointed out that with the "best" beds in the house were reserved for guests, this "second-best bed" was likely the bed Shakespeare and his wife shared. And O'Farrell has invented a deeper and more nuanced life and persona for Anne/Agnes — she was referred to by her father, in his own will, as Agnes, and that is the name she has, with a silent 'G', in Hamnet.Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Agnes in Hamnet at ACT. Photo by Kyle FlubackerAs the clairvoyant, slightly witchy Agnes, Kemi-Bo Jacobs smolders and erupts, bringing particular power to the role in the second act of the play. It is a physically and emotionally demanding role, with the life of Agnes and Will on fast-forward from the time that she is 26 and he 18 — hand-fasted in the woods before she becomes pregant with their first child Susanna — to some 15 years later, after the bubonic plague has taken one of their second-born twins, the boy named Hamnet, around age 11.Jacobs performs the unimaginable grief of the loss of her only son, and the abandonment by her industrious husband, with great skill and gravitas. And as William himself, Rory Alexander is understated, even modest, until he's seen confidently directing actors at the Globe Theatre to speak his lines as written — because he has suffered over the choice of every one, he says.If the contents of the play and Zhao's film have notable differences, they lie primarily in how we see Agnes in awe of and interacting with the natural world in Act 1 — the film, for obvious reasons, is able to be far more evocative on that visual front — and this, in turn, helps inspire young William's attraction to her. Rory Alexander as William Shakespeare in Hamnet. Photo by Kyle FlubackerBut the play succeeds more in showing us the world of Will and his fellow theater folk, at work 100 miles away in London, creating the plays we know him for. These include the real-life contemporaries and collaborators of Shakespeare Richard Burbage (Bert Seymour); and Will Kemp (Nigel Barrett), the famed comedic actor who debuted the role of Falstaff, whom Barrett marvelously embodies.Barrett also shines as Shakespeare's famously indebted, alcoholic father, bringing great visceral rage to the role — this piece of Shakespeare's life, and the abuse of his father, is also not as well fleshed out in the film as it is here.The play is incredibly moving in how it handles the final sequence, after Agnes discovers that her husband has written a tragedy called Hamlet, and she travels to see it for herself. Though it is hard to compete with the full noisy, crowded, period-perfect glory of Zhao's recreation of the Globe, here we have a quieter and more intimate take on Agnes and William's reconcilation, and the realization that they have been grieving their son in their own separate ways — and as they both learn that art can heal even the deepest wounds.Hamnet plays through May 24. Find tickets here ...read more read less