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Will Shakespeare: An Invention in Four Acts

Chapter 1: WILL SHAKESPEARE AN INVENTION IN FOUR ACTS
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About This Book

A dramatized four-act portrayal follows a young dramatist torn between domestic life and artistic ambition, tracing his tensions with his wife, collaborations with players and impresarios, and encounters at court and with contemporary writers. Scenes shift from a Stratford cottage to London stages and palace rooms, depicting the rehearsal and first performance of Romeo and Juliet, the mechanics of staging, and the theatre's social world. Themes include the costs of creative obsession, the clash between private intimacy and public success, and the interplay of imagination and performance. The structure mixes household scenes, backstage rehearsal, and courtly spectacle to examine how art reshapes personal relationships and public identity.

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Title: Will Shakespeare: An Invention in Four Acts

Author: Clemence Dane

Release date: December 17, 2015 [eBook #50712]
Most recently updated: October 22, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Andrew Sly, Paul Marshall, Al Haines and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILL SHAKESPEARE: AN INVENTION IN FOUR ACTS ***

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

NOVELS:
REGIMENT OF WOMEN FIRST THE BLADE LEGEND
PLAY:
A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN


WILL SHAKESPEARE
AN INVENTION IN FOUR ACTS

BY

CLEMENCE DANE

There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.

Shakespeare.


THE PEOPLE OF THE PLAY
As they appear.

Anne Hathaway.
Will Shakespeare.
Mrs. Hathaway.
Henslowe.
A Child.
Players.
Queen Elizabeth.
Mary Fitton.
Kit Marlowe.
Stage Hands.
A Boy.
A Landlord.
A Man.
Another Man.
A Girl.
A Street Hawker.
A Page.
Soldiers, Attendants, etc.

ACT I. —A Cottage in Stratford.

ACT II. —Ten Years Later
Scene 1. A Room in the Palace. Scene 2. Three Months Later— the First Night of “Romeo and Juliet.”

ACT III. —
Scene 1. A Month Later—Shakespeare’s Lodging. Scene 2. The Same Night—A Room at an Inn.

ACT IV. —The Next Day—A State Room in the Palace.

The Play was first acted at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, on November 17th, 1921, by the Reandean Company, with the following cast:—

WILL SHAKESPEARE Mr. Philip Merivale
ANNE   Miss Moyna Macgill
Mrs. HATHAWAY Miss Mary Rorke
HENSLOWE Mr. Arthur Whitby
QUEEN ELIZABETH Miss Haidee Wright
MARY FITTON Miss Mary Clare
KIT MARLOWE Mr. Claude Rains

A CHILD ACTOR

Master Eric Spear
A SECRETARY Mr. Arthur Bawtree
A STAGE HAND Mr. Gilbert Ritchie
A BOY Master Spear
A LANDLORD Mr. Ivor Barnard
A LADY-IN-WAITING Miss Joan Maclean

Shadows in Act I.
Ophelia Miss Lennie Pride Shylock Mr. Gilbert Ritchie
Desdemona Miss Gladys Jessel Clown Mr. Ivor Barnard
Othello Mr. Herbert Young Hamlet Mr. Neil Curtis
Queen Margaret Miss Flora Robson Caesar Mr. Arthur Bawtree
Prince Arthur Mr. Eric Crosbie Cleopatra Miss Mai Ashley
Rosalind Miss Phyllis Fabian King Lear Mr. Fred Morgan

The Three Fates

 { Miss Nora Robinson
 { Miss Gladys Gray
 { Miss Beatrice Smith

Strolling Players, Beefeaters, Stage Hands,
Drinkers, Court Attendants, etc.


The Production by BASIL DEAN.
The Music by THOMAS WOOD.
Designs for the Scenery and Dresses by GEORGE HARRIS.