Insights A Study Guide to the Utah Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare In Love The articles in this study guide are not meant to mirror or interpret any productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. They are meant, instead, to be an educational jumping-off point to understanding and enjoying the plays (in any production at any theatre) a bit more thoroughly. Therefore the stories of the plays and the interpretative articles (and even characters, at times) may differ dramatically from what is ultimately produced on the Festival’s stages. Insights is published by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, 351 West Center Street; Cedar City, UT 84720. Bruce C. Lee, communications director and editor; Phil Hermansen, art director. Copyright © 2011, Utah Shakespeare Festival. Please feel free to download and print Insights, as long as you do not remove any identifying mark of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. For more information about Festival education programs: Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street Cedar City, Utah 84720 435-586-7880 www.bard.org. Cover photo: Melinda Pfundstein (left), David Ivers, and John Taylor Phillips in Dial M for Murder, 2011. Contents Information on the Play Synopsis 4 ShakespeareCharacters In Love5 About the Playwrights 6 Scholarly Articles on the Play A Woman in a Man’s Profession or What You Will 8 Utah Shakespeare Festival 3 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Synopsis: Shakespeare In Love Young Will Shakespeare has writer’s block and needs some inspiration. His ideas for his new com- edy, Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter, are less than genius and the owner of the theatre is under scrutiny from the producer, to whom he owes money. Meanwhile, across town, a rival theatre performs Will’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and heaven forbid, they added a dog, all without his permission! The high-spirited young lady, Viola De Lesseps, who knows Will’s work very well, wishes to be on the stage. This, of course, is against the law in Elizabethan England, but it doesn’t stop her from trying. Disguised as a young man and going by the name Thomas Kent, Viola attends auditions for Will’s next play, the very one he is struggling to finish. Viola returns home to prepare for the ball being hosted by the De Lesseps household and discovers her father has arranged a marriage for her to a Lord Wessex, a wealthy Virginia plantation owner. Will and his playwright friend Christopher Marlowe come to her house looking for “Master Kent” to offer him the lead of Romeo in his play, and are invited to come in to the ball. Here Will sees Viola for the first time, and soon a scene similar to the initial meeting of Romeo and Juliet takes place. Will’s sudden attention to Viola offends Lord Wessex, and when asked for his name, Will introduces himself as Marlowe. Later, Viola’s nurse delivers Will’s message to Viola about her getting the role in the play but warns that acting will not end well for her. Marlowe accompanies Will to Viola’s balcony, and a Romeo-and- Juliet-like balcony scene unfolds as Will discovers new-found inspiration. The nurse discovers Will before he escapes, but now the household is onto him—but by the name Marlowe. Rehearsals begin the next day and Viola (as Kent) plays Romeo. As they continue, the story gradually changes from one about Romeo and a pirate’s daughter to one with a love interest named Juliet. Wessex visits Viola and informs her of their impending marriage and journey to Virginia. Though it breaks her heart, Viola sends word to Will that he must not visit her again because it is too dangerous. Will follows Kent from rehearsal and divulges his desperate love for Viola. He soon discovers Viola’s disguise, and they come together in passion for each other. Will tries to convince Viola to run away with him instead of marrying Wessex. She knows she can never do this, and that she must go with Wessex to receive the Queen’s approval for their marriage. Once at court, the Queen examines Viola and privately tells Wessex she can tell Viola has another lover. In his anger, he assumes it is Marlowe and goes after him. As things continue to fall apart, one of Will’s rivals claims he has rights to the Romeo and Juliet manuscript and attempts to get it away from the cast during a rehearsal. Will’s company manages to hold on to it, but as they celebrate, Viola/Kent discovers Will has an estranged wife and two children. She runs out, leaving the group to mourn over the sudden news that Marlowe was just stabbed to death across town. Drunk and stirred up, Wessex finds Viola distraught in her bedroom and breaks the news of “her” playwright’s death. She faints, believing he means Will; but when Will enters looking for Viola, Wessex flees thinking him the ghost of Marlowe. Similarly to the ending of Romeo and Juliet, Will sees Viola and pleads if she be dead, that he die too. Fortunately she awakes at his kiss and they work through their misunderstandings. However, more troubles await at the theatre. The Queen’s chamberlain declares it closed for allowing a female to act on the stage. With so many disruptions, what happens now to Will’s new play and where will the players go? How can Will and Viola be together now with her wedding approaching? What does Will’s future hold? 4 Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Characters: Shakespeare In Love Playwrights Will Shakespeare: Poet and playwright Kit Marlowe: Will’s colleague, friend, and inspiration The Rose Theatre Henslowe: Owner and manager of the Rose Theatre Fennyman: Producer Lambert and Frees: Fennyman’s accomplices and henchmen Ralph: An actor who plays Nurse and Petruchio Nol: An actor who plays Benvolio and Samson Robin: An actor who plays Lady Capulet Adam: An actor who plays Gregory, Benvolio, and Servingman John Webster: A street urchin who aspires to be an actor Wabash: A stammering actor and Henslowe’s tailor The Admiral’s Men Ned Alleyn: The lead actor of the Admiral’s Men, plays Mercutio Sam: An actor who plays Juliet Peter: An actor who plays Tybalt Other Actors The Chamberlain’s Men Burbage: The lead actor and owner of the Curtain Theatre Other Actors Dog: A trained animal that delights the Queen Burbages Two Heavies The Palace Mistress Quickly: Wardrobe mistress at Whitehall Palace Edmund Tilney: The Lord Chamberlain Queen Elizabeth I The De Lesseps House Viola De Lesseps: A daughter who disguises herself as Thomas Kent to audition to be an actor Nurse: Servant to Viola Sir Robert De Lesseps: Viola’s father Lord Wessex: A nobleman betrothed to Viola Catling: A guard at De Lesseps Hall Two Guards Boatman The Tavern Waiter Barman Molly and Kate – whores at the tavern Musicians – appear in various locales throughout Utah Shakespeare Festival 5 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 About the Playwright: Shakespeare In Love By Vanessa Hunt Tom Stoppard, Marc Norman, and Lee Hall took very different paths to becoming part of the writing team for the theatrical play Shakespeare in Love. From Czechoslovakia, Los Angeles, and England, the three of them all had successful careers in the theatre before each left his mark on this play about the world’s most famous playwright. Tom Stoppard Academy Award winner Tomas Straussler, later known as Tom Stoppard, was born on July 3, 1937 in Czechoslovakia. In 1939, as the Nazis invaded his hometown, Stoppard and his family fled to Singapore where his father, a doctor, was reposted thanks to a town patron whose company worked to repost Jewish employees. Following the move to Singapore, Stoppard’s father sent him, along with Stoppard’s mother and brother, to Australia. Staying in Singapore to help the British defense, his father became a prisoner of war and reportedly drowned on a ship after it was bombed by Japanese forces. Forced once again to flee, young Tomas and his family arrived in India where he attended an American multiracial school, and it was there that his name was changed from Tomas to Tom. Four years later, his mother married a British army major named Kenneth Stoppard, and Tom took on his stepfather’s last name. After the war ended, the family moved to England where he attended Dolphin School and finalized his education at Pocklington School. Stoppard never received a formal univer- sity education, which later became one of his greatest regrets. At age seventeen, Stoppard began a job as a journalist at Western Daily Press. He worked there for four years until he was offered a job at the Bristol Evening World where he was a featured writer, humor columnist, and secondary drama critic. It was during this time that he was fully introduced to the world of theatre. Starting his writing career with writing short plays for radio, Stoppard then delved into the world of playwrighting for the theatre in 1960 when he finished his first play, A Walk on the Water. It was televised in London, later retitled Enter a Free Man, and was produced onstage in 1968. His first widely recognized play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, was written in 1964. However, it began as a one-act play titled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear. In 1967, this play was met with rave reviews as it played in Britain’s National Theatre circuit and became internation- ally known.