If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

 

At Dellecher Classical Conservatory, the students are expected to devote themselves to their art.  They can focus on either art, music, or theatre.  The theatre syllabus is devoted to Shakespeare and the plays are all his works.  Each year those who don't make the cut are released from the school and by the fourth, final year only seven students remain.  Going through such an intensive program, the seven are each other's best friends, enemies, lovers and every other category.

But there are pairings.  Richard is the school's lead actor, a huge bass voice and imposing physical bearing.  He is in an intense relationship with Meredith, who is the troupe's femme fatale.  Another pairing is best friends James and Oliver.  James is the second lead while Oliver is less well regarded in terms of drama.  Wren is the troupe's ingenue and Richard's cousin.  Phillipa is another female secondary character and also plays male characters as needed.  Alexander is the group's openly gay friend who spends much of his time in a drugged haze.  

As the story begins, we see Oliver being released from prison after ten years.  The rest of the book goes back and forth between his current life and the story of the troupe's senior year when things fell apart and someone died as a result, a death for which Oliver was imprisoned.  We see the group as their dynamic created over years starts to fall apart, as different pairings start to form and students start to think of their adult lives and what they will be.

M.L. Rio was both an actor and a Shakespearean student before she turned to writing.  There is Shakespeare throughout the book, with the plays all focusing on him and the students, devoted to their art, often speaking using his words in everyday life.  The tension builds slowly as relationships strain and break and new ones are formed and as the students react to the changes and the tragedy that will define all their lives.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and mystery.