h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Shakespeare in Love

The wholly fictional story of Will overcoming writer’s block and writing Romeo and Juliet when he meets and falls in love with Viola de Lesseps, a rich man’s daughter and a theatre groupie. She is married off to Lord Wessex with a sock load of cash in return for a title and social respectability, and leaves for Virginia with him, leaving behind a distraught but inspired Shakespeare who writes ‘Twelfth Night’. With the barest nod at historic facts, it still manages to be a hugely enjoyable romp, and romping is always worth spending time on I say.

That’s why I timetabled it, without thinking through what I might write about it. I am sure I will come up with something and it will all work out at the end. How? I don’t know, it’s a mystery.

The November 11th journal looked at another fictional Hollywood blockbuster, ‘Anonymous’. I took great pleasure in tearing that piece to shreds, so in the interest of fairness I ought to do the same to this one. At the end of the movie, Will sits down to write ‘Twelfth Night’. He starts as you would expect with the title followed, naturally by ‘Act One: Scene One’.

Except, plays in the 16th century weren’t divided into scenes and acts. A scene ‘ended’ when everyone left the stage and the next scene started when someone walked onto the stage. Only with the move to indoor theatres were Acts and Scenes introduced, the one to allow for the candles lighting the stage to be trimmed, and the latter for the moving on of the extra scenery and props. Open air theatres relied on natural light and those props that could be moved on with the action. When Will’s works were published in the 1623 Folio the editors added many of the Act and Scene divisions.

The climactic moment in the film is when Queen Elizabeth reveals herself in the audience at the theatre. There are a number of legends about the interactions between Monarch and Bard. One story has Will onstage playing a King and the Queen walking across the stage and dropping a glove. Will, instead of the customary bow, picked up the glove and gave it back to her as if he was an equal, staying in character. All rubbish of course. Elizabeth never went to a public theatre. If she wanted to see a play or hear music, it went to her.

Shakespeare plays Romeo in the premiere of the play, but in reality he probably played much smaller parts. Not much is known about his acting career but suggestions have been made that he played Adam in ‘As You Like It’ and the Ghost in ‘Hamlet’.

Lord Wessex marries Viola because her father is rich and her dowry will enable him to revitalise his investments in tobacco growing in Virginia. Getting in before your rivals is always a good move in business but it is usually a good idea to wait until the location of your plantations exists and the commercial growing of baccy has been introduced. The first settlement in Jamestown was in 1607, that’s fourteen years after Wessex leaves for America. Maybe he was on a slow boat?

By an odd coincidence, earlier in the day I had turned the radio on and my attention was drawn to a discussion about Pocahontas. I guess everyone knows the story (or stories) not to mention the Disney creation. (I said not to mention that). Pocahontas was the daughter of a Native American chief Powhatan, in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Legend has it that she saved the life of a settler, John Smith. She later married a trader, John Rolfe and travelled to England with him in 1616. They planned to return to America in 1617 but she died before they left and is buried in an unknown grave, located rather neatly, in Gravesend.

The film begins with Philip Henslowe the theatre owner, having his feet toasted over an open fire to ‘persuade’ him to pay up his debts. In reality Henslowe was a reasonably wealthy man and a money lender himself.

There is a big difference between the two films though. ‘Anonymous’ is suggesting quite seriously, or it is suggesting that it is quite serious in its seriously suggesting, that someone other than the person all the evidence points to as the creator, wrote the works. ‘Shakespeare in Love’ isn’t making any radical claims but just using a bit of history and a lot of Romance to provide an enjoyable two hours.

‘Anonymous’ was marketed as a serious view of a possible conspiracy, and if that was just the director having a bit of fun and trying to sell his film, it seems to have failed. ‘Shakespeare in Love’ starts off being a little bit silly and is obviously saying, ‘look this is just a fun way to spend some time, enjoy’.

And here is some geeky stuff I looked up on the interweb. I am always amazed by how many people are involved in the creation of a moving picture. This film has 55 actors in it, not including background extras, plus the Choir of St George's School, Windsor (who play themselves, apparently, although they all look far younger than 400 years old). The number of actors is dwarfed by the behind the camera people. 343 of them.

And more; Imelda Staunton plays Viola’s nurse. In the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ the nurse is played by Jim Broadbent, who is Imelda’s husband.

Ben Affleck plays Ned (Edward) Alleyne who was, before Richard Burbage, acknowledged as the greatest actor on the English stage. He made famous many of the lead characters written by Marlowe. He was also very, very, tall in an age where the average height was somewhat lower than today he was reputed to be in well in excess of six feet. Affleck probably took the part so that he could keep an eye on his then girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. That isn’t a fact, just idle gossip.

Joseph Fiennes plays Will Shakespeare and ‘almost’ steals the girl away from Lord Wessex, played by Colin Firth. Two years earlier Colin Firth’s wife was stolen away by Joseph’s brother Ralph Fiennes, in ‘The English Patient’. It is rumoured that Colin Firth never takes his wife to a party with a Fiennes attending it.

Joseph’s full name is allegedly Joseph Alberic Iscariot Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and his brother is Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. Which is probably why I take everything I read on the interweb with a pinch of salt (except for Hootoo).

Deb

[Amy P]

And the screenplay was written by Tom Stoppard! I've been waiting impatiently for you to get round to this movie, which I've made all my friends watch. At least once.

Whether it was plausible or not, the denouement with Dame Judy Dench was a thrilling moment in theatre. I forgive Stoppard all his implausibilities for that one scene. Even the acerbic Clive James claimed decades ago to be hopelessly in love with Stoppard.

I agree with everything you say

I avoided mentioning Tom Stoppard in deference to Marc Norman who wrote the first draft of the script, with Tom coming in to beef it up a bit.

Obviously us Stoppard groupies assume that all the good stuff is Tom's, and that is probably a little unfair on Marc.

Film4 has Shakespeare in Love on at 9pm Thursday 27th. I haven't seen it for a while so thanks for this review and for reminding me about it.