Like most moviegoers in late 1998 and
early 1999, I was utterly enchanted by
the film Shakespeare in Love. As a theatre
maker, I was initially skeptical to see this
imagined love story of William Shakespeare’s
early years as a young playwright. Despite
the pedigree of the artists involved, I found
it hard to imagine how it could possibly
work. Then I saw the film. I was swept away
by the breathless wit of Tom Stoppard
and Marc Norman’s script, the exquisitely
detailed design, the thrilling acting and
direction and the trembling love story at
its center.
I greeted the idea of a theatrical adaptation
of the film with another bout ofskepticism. How could anyone translate
this gorgeous film for the stage? Then I
read Lee Hall’s script. I was floored by how
much he honored the film and yet created
something utterly new.
Shakespeare in Love is, in many ways, a love
letter to theatre and the people who make
it and to the people who love and support
it. It belongs on a stage with an audience
swimming in the energy and unpredictability
of a live performance.
I love this play because its heart is enormous
and generous. It encompasses both
divinely clever Shakespeare-insider wordplay
and cheap puns. It has swashbuckling
swordfights and a passionately delicate
romance. It examines the gender politics
of a decidedly sexist world whose monarch
is one of the most powerful women in history.
It honors and holds these contradictions
in one container. It is wonderfully
Shakespearean in its celebration of the turbulent
complexity of human beings.
For me, perhaps the most revelatory
accomplishment of this fanciful examination
of the English language’s most brilliant
writer is how it explores the act of artistic
creation. As our play opens, Will Shakespeare
is struggling mightily to write a single
word. He is waiting for inspiration to strike,
hoping it will hit him like a bolt of lightning.
What he must learn over the course of the
story is that the best and most profound
inspiration is to be found in the people
around you, in their beating hearts, restless
minds and uniquely complicated stories. In
this unsettling time, I am grateful to have
that profound reminder.
— Christopher Liam Moore