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The Bard's identity: that is the question

Photo by Jeff Young

From left, Giles Davies, Scott Isert and Magali Naas star in "Elizabeth and Edward" at the Gorilla Theatre in Tampa.

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By KATHY L. GREENBERG | Tribune correspondent

Published: April 9, 2009

Who really wrote Shakespeare's plays? The answer is not so obvious, according to Aubrey Hampton's new play "Elizabeth and Edward." In this thought-provoking whodunit produced at the Gorilla Theatre, clues suggest that "William Shakespeare" was the pseudonym for a person of royal lineage - someone who may have been the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I.

Conventional views attribute Shakespeare's works to a shiny-pated man born in Stratford-upon-Avon. But thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain thought this Stratford fellow - an illiterate grain merchant variously called Shaksper, Shaqsper or Shaxpere - couldn't have written the 16th century plays and poems.

So who did?

Some say Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe or Ben Jonson. Hampton favors the theory that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, held the plume.

In "Elizabeth and Edward," directed by Nancy Cole, 10 actors take on several roles and time periods to support the Oxfordian line of thought. Ghosts of actors past open the play at the 500th Shakespeare Jubilee, 1569-2069, where the question of authorship segues into a series of qualifying vignettes.

In an outstanding performance, Giles Davies portrays de Vere, the savvy and sophisticated favorite of Elizabeth (Pat Fenda). It's clear in the exchanges between de Vere and the Virgin Queen that he is brilliantly creative. With her support, the earl has ample opportunity to write and produce his plays.

Alvin Jenkins and Steve Mountan present more evidence as scholars in favor of de Vere. The real author, they claim, had to know languages, history and politics. Only a well-born individual would have access to such information. That leaves Shaksper of Stratford (Scott Isert) out of the running.

The scholars' musings bring up another question: Was there a cover-up? In Elizabeth's time, stage work was not included in the list of acceptable pursuits for aristocrats. If de Vere wrote "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and the like, he would have been under pressure to hide his identity. And that would have been even more likely were he Elizabeth's bastard child, as the scholars suggest.

Mark Twain (Jenkins), Sigmund Freud (Mountan) and Charlie Chaplin (Magali Naas) also materialize, more to support the case against Shaksper of Stratford than for the Earl of Oxford. Either way, the grain merchant is persona non grata.

The first act is lively and engaging - as appealing as Shakespeare (whoever he was) presumably hoped his own plays would be. But in the second half, when Shaksper appears to balance the argument, the momentum wanes as the hard facts for de Vere peter out.

"Elizabeth and Edward" is a great idea. Hampton takes an ivory tower debate and brings it into the limelight for public consumption. But when all is said and done, the playwright doth protest too much, methinks.

THEATER PREVIEW

Elizabeth and Edward

WHEN: through April 19; 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Gorilla Theatre, 4419 N. Hubert Ave., Tampa

HOW MUCH: $20 to $25, depending on date of performance; (813) 879-2914; www.gorillatheatre.com

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