Title: Performance as Metadramatic Biography in John Mortimer's Will Shakespeare
Abstract: Much of the wit and excitement in the delightful Shakespeare in Love derives from the depiction of the reciprocity between Shakespeare's life and his art. As Shakespeare struggles to write Romeo and Juliet, his life unfolds in ways that influence the development of the play, which in turn informs his life. In one delirious scene, the joys of love between the onstage Romeo and Juliet are matched by the amorous bedroom writhings of Shakespeare and his paramour Viola in unison with the dialogue. A similar take on Shakespeare's life and plays is provided by John Mortimer's Will Shakespeare, a six-Part series which was broadcast on the BBC in 1978. The biography spans from 1590 to 1603, thirteen controversial and dark years of Shakespeare's life in London, interweaving historical, anachronistic, and hypothetical personages and events with scenes from Shakespeare's plays. Performance defines Shakespeare's life, which is represented as the working out of his plays in reality. This inextricable relationship is primarily established through the seamless cutting between the performance of relevant scenes and the enactment of his life, which is further invested with melodramatic import through the use of theatrical metaphors and the location of much of the action at theatres. The first episode, entitled The Dead Shepherd 1590, concerns the development of the rivalry between Shakespeare and Marlowe and Marlowe's tragic death at the Deptford tavern. A young and completely unknown Shakespeare aspires to break into the London theatrical scene, but is forced to work as a humble ostler and reduced to stealing a capon from a man who turns out to be a messenger from his wife in Stratford. By contrast, Marlowe struts as the reigning playwright who is cavalierly rehearsing Tamburlaine at the Rose Theatre; at one point he leaps melodramatically from his perch in the balcony to illustrate how to duel effectively. While Marlowe preens as cock of the walk, Will lies to his Stratfordian, Hamnet Sadler (John McEnery), about his prominence as an actor, claiming to have been rehearsing the death scene from Tamburlaine. Shakespeare also pays the barmaid to bring complimentary drinks to Hamnet and himself from his fellow actors, who have arrived at the tavern but do not know Shakespeare at all. Marlowe may be the dramatic eminence, but he is also dissolute and politically endangered. He is addicted to drink, girls, and Ingram Frizer (Simon Rouse), who is depicted as Ganymede/Judas to Marlowe. Marlowe is struggling to finish his dark Dr. Faustus, to whose title character he constantly compares himself. As played by McShane, Marlowe is a foppish, periwigged decadent with a keen and biting intelligence, who asserts that Dr. Faustus had the right to sell his soul at any price because he had two very important and valid aims: freedom to inquire and knowledge to reward the inquiry. Knowledge gives power, and there is no sin but ignorance. Marlowe does not want the safe life, and that is why he joins the real play of Walsingham's (John Bailey) spy network, although Walsingham rejects his free thinking ideology. Marlowe swims in shark-infested waters: Frizer has been used by Walsingham to lure Marlowe into spying, while at the same time Walsingham hires Poley (Robert O'Mahoney) to watch Marlowe and Frizer in this dangerous game. Meanwhile, the disheveled, and throughly unspied upon Shakespeare breaks into the empty Rose Theatre and runs wildly onto the stage where he performs an impromptu version of Dr. Faustus' death scene. He follows this with a rendition of the Cuckoo's Song, ending with a rousing cock's crow. His histrionics awaken the famous actor Edward Alleyn (Andre Morell), who resides in a room above the stage. He auditions Shakespeare, who performs the Faustian death scene again, but he is hired as the mere cock-crower. The next scene presents the theatrical performance of the final lines of Dr. …
Publication Year: 2003
Publication Date: 2003-08-01
Language: en
Type: article
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