Another film about Shakespeare is here and this one (gasp) puts forth the authorship question. The film Anonymous, which carries the tag line "was Shakespeare a Fraud?", was summed up by the San Diego Reader's David Elliott thusly, "Here is a film for people who hated Shakespeare in school, who think that iambic pentameter was taught in geometry, and guess that the first Hamlet was, uh... Simon Cowell? The movie, to its shame, enshrines ignorance about Shakespeare."
I'm going to see it. I love Shakespeare and watching scenes of his, in the period setting, is what gets me going -- regardless of who wrote them. Then there is the virtual cavalcade of Shakespearean actors to be seen: OK only Vanessa Redgrave and Derek Jacobi but they're worth the price of admission alone.
So there are the period settings, the costumes, two great actors and three or four really good ones. Done. Now, for the arguments...
Many Oxfordians believe that Shakespeare could not have written the plays, sonnets and poems attributed to him because he only had a grade school education, was a simple tradesman and was an actor. Oddly, these are about the only facts extant about perhaps the greatest writer in the English language -- and the same Stratfordian arguments for his authorship as well. I will take them in order...
Grade School
In Elizabethan England, grade school was 10-hours, six days a week of Latin and Greek and has been likened to a modern Masters degree.
Tradesman
Shakespeare's father John was a Glover and an alderman who tried most of his life to become a gentleman. William ran off to be an actor and returned to Stratford a sharer in the best theatre troupe in London, purchased the largest house in town and got his family a coat of arms.
Actor
Actors in Shakespeare's time had to have an immense amount of words in their heads. They performed a different play every night and many parts in each play. Imagine TV but live, with a limited number of actors. Oh, and they all danced and sang too. So an actor would have an immense vocabulary, understand plots and characters, and know how to put them together.
But only a genius could create the characters who said these lines and Shakespeare, whether he was a Glover from Stratford, the Earl of Oxford or the Queen herself (oh, yes that's a theory too). I offer three nice sources on the authorship question:
How Shakespeare Changed Everything by Stephen Marche.
This brief and witty book shares all the things Shakespeare brought into the world and some of the funny outcomes of actions by Shakespeare fans. States that no one has ever been granted permission to write a masters' thesis on the Oxfordian argument.
My Name is Will by Jess Winfield
You might recognize the name of one of the founders of the Reduced Shakespeare Company and
authors of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. His story is simply the best look into the life and times of William Shakespeare even thought the journey is taken by a dude on mushrooms at a Renaissance fair in northern California.
The Beard of Avon by Amy Freed
Tough going as a playwright to write a play that has Shakespeare, the Earl of Oxford, the Queen and possibly a few others as authors of the Bards work. Tough because most theatres are Stratfordian and too few have produced it. But read this play, even if you can't see it. It brings Shakespeare to life as well as his theatrical partners and his witty wife.
If you want to have the argument, see the film, read the above and get ready. It will be hard to change any one's mind. After all the huffing and puffing, though, take your opponent to see a play!
Kevin Six is an actor, playwright and a self-described actorian who believes Shakespeare wrote his plays but had help from the actors in his troupe. He can be found at www.KevinSix.com.
