Lord StrangeTV Script

by David Seals

copyright 2015 by David Seals

all rights reserved

Act One

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Pilot Episode

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EXTERIOR - DAY

Title Over:

On the Welsh-English Border, town of Chester, 1593

Classic 1593 street scene in Elizabethan Britain, with Tudorbuildings, crowds of merchants, poor and rich, horses, dirtysewage, etc. Lots of busy people.

WISLAWA (voiceover, American accent)

It began not long ago when I answered an ad for a graduateassistant.

ACT ONE

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Credits

Title over:

Cambridge, Massachusetts, present day

INTERIOR - DAY - MODERN HOME IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

A fine study/library of rich panelled wood and leather furniture, art work, tasteful furnishings.

WISLAWA, a young woman about 25, a college student, Jewish, Lesbian, enters the room, to meet DR.GEORGES SVOBODA, 70, distinguished, courteous white American; and DR.CHRISTIANE GRUFFYDD, 50, distinguished Welsh Woman, both in suits.

GEORGES

Come in Wislawa, that's a fine Polish name. My ancestry isalso eastern European. And Dr. Christiane Gruffydd is

visting us from Wales.

WISLAWA

Oh, hello.

CHRISTIANE (shaking hands formally)

Your graduate assistant, Georges?

GEORGES

Yes. Please, have a seat. Would you like some tea?

WISLAWA

Oh, no thank you.

GEORGES (reading her papers, sitting at his big desk)

Fine references. Your master's study program is in 'MediaCommunications'?

WISLAWA

Yes. Television production.

GEORGES

Good. That's what I need. I'm doing some research and amtired of books, and, god forbid, websites.

WISLAWA

Really? Doctor Borchardt said you were working on a ...uh ... well ... I'm familiar with your political histories

of course.

CHRISTIANE

I have to leave in a moment. Have you told her what we'redoing?

GEORGES

Not yet. Wislawa --

CHRISTIANE

You are, I presume, young lady, familiar with the poem 'ThePhoenix and the Dove'?

WISLAWA

Uh, no ...

CHRISTIANE

Supposedly by one English usurper named Shakespeare. No. no.

WISLAWA

No?

CHRISTIANE

Does she know anything about what we're doing, Georges? Idon't have time for this. Young lady, in 1601 an obscurelittle booklet of poems was published titled 'The Phoenixand the Dove', a Turtle dove that is, by someone named

Robert Chester under the overall title of 'Love's Martyr'that is. the important point is that, one, it was dedicatedto Sir John Salusbury, a notable Welsh Lord, who was married

to one Ursula Stanley, of the fabulously rich Stanleys ofLancashire, an illegitimate daughter of the 4th Earl of

Derby such therewith. Are you following me? Two, a poem wasincluded in the booklet ascribed to William Shakespeare.Thereby establishing a connection or relationship betweenthe Salusbury and Stanley families with the pseudonym of

Shakespeare.

WISLAWA

I don't follow you.

CHRISTIANE

Documentary proof of a Welsh connection to Shakespeare.Ursula and Hubby had a castle in northern Wales, at Lleweni,

up by Denbigh.

WISLAWA

Ursula was, uh -- ?

CHRISTIANE

Jesus! The sister of the Bard.

GEORGES

Dr.Val Borchardt, who referred you to me for this job, is anold friend, Wislawa, but I'm afraid she just doesn't approveof my latest "eccentric" project. That's okay. We're havingfun, or at least I am. Christiane is some kind of fanatic.Political science of course was my game for many years andit still is, but I've been interested, well, forever, aslong as I can remember, in the so-called "mysteries" ofhistory. Famous men and women, you know, whom we know

nothing about? Who was Homer, really? Lao Tzu. That sort ofthing. The unknowns that have shaped us more than anything,

I think. Not that academia has much use for that.

CHRISTIANE

Oh shut up, Georges. I love you dearly but you're an oldwindbag. Ms. Wislawa, we need you to research the shit out

of this topic. The National Library of Wales should have aton of information and correspondence about Sir John and hiswife - Ursula Salusbury, nee Stanley, got it? - no one has

found yet, because of a lack of looking.

GEORGES (good-natured)

Poor grammar, Christiane.

CHRISTIANE

English, second language.

WISLAWA

The National Library of Wales? Is this speculation?

GEORGES

Yes, well, no. It has to be based on fact, I'm still ascientist in that sense, no matter how "crackpot" the

Establishment may call it. Who cares what they think? I havemy "Emeritus" security, I don't need it anymore, - the

approval - if I ever did. Good pension. A few royalties. Butlet's get to the point, if you don't mind? You're hired if

you still want it?

WISLAWA

Of course. I just don't know what it is.

GEORGES

Precisely. That's the whole point. Mystery is a word lazyminds like to use when they can't understand facts staringthem in the face. "Lord Strange" is the title of my new

work, but it's not a book or a website. It was also a titleof the Lords of Derby. Which, is on the border with Wales. I

want it to be a Televison series. I need you to shape itinto a script and a production, at least theoretically, for

me.

CHRISTIANE

Wales, goddamnit. Keep your focus. The Stanleys of northernWales, on the border with Lancashire up by Liverpool, were

direct descendants of the Welsh Tudor King Henry VII.

GEORGES

And he is the great Author.

WISLAWA

Who? Televison series? I'm not a writer.

GEORGES

Or whatever they call it. "A mini-series"? I think there'smore information in the story necessarily longer and more

erudite than a 2 hour feature film to entertain the masses.I watch a lot of TV. "Pay-TV" that is; commercials areabhorrent. I like it. Foreign programs. Some excellent

political, semi-fictionalized, histories have been producedlately - 'The Borgias' for instance, in England or Ireland.How true they are, or truer than long fat academic tomes

with ten thousand footnotes, I don't know. I don't even careanymore. Anyway, Lord Strange. To get to the point, it'sabout the "Shakespeare Authorship" question, which you mayhave heard of. What you probably haven't heard of is myanalysis - and that of a very few other crackpots of thetheory, like this old bag here, - , that he, the famous

Bard, was one Earl of Derby named William Stanley. From yourblank expression I can see you haven't heard of him.

Excellent. That's the point - his point. He never wantedanyone to know he wrote the famous Corpus of Hamlet and

Romeo and Juliet. Why?

WISLAWA

Wow.

CHRISTIANE

I'm out of here. Goodbye. I'll be back to expound upon theBibliography if Georges ever gets around to it. Cheerio,kids. I have a flight to Cardiff. I'll send you stuff from

the Wales Library too.

WISLAWA

Ursula. 'Phoenix and the Turtledove'. Shakespeare's sister.Got it.

She exits abruptly

GEORGES

Further, it leads to an even greater question of theidentity of a far more influential individual, and Time,

than even the British, that is Welsh, Bard. But that's for alater discussion, and analysis, and perhaps a separate TV

show. So, how do we make all this boring talk and expositiondramatic and interesting? Or, more to the point, why shouldwe even care to reach the sleeping human spectacle? What'sit to them? What's in it for them? I'll tell you - I don't

care. I want to know. And that's enough.

WISLAWA

Okay. I'm completely lost.

GEORGES

Good. Wouldn't this be a good place to cut to another scene,such as, the crucial last good days of the Stanley Family in1593, before the tragedies struck? Regard - here are some

etchings from the time of the Players in northern Wales andEngland, not London, where the very very rich Stanleys were

doing a lot of theatre with their traveling troupes.

He shows her piles of paper and etchings, etc.

Lady Margaret Clifford Stanley, mother

William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby

WISLAWA

Cut to 1593?

CUT:

A grand CASTLE and PLAYERS on a Stage in a large hall entertaining rich nobles in the audience.

GEORGES (voiceover)

The Stanleys were great patrons of the arts - far far awayfrom the media glare of dirty old London town. That's onebig reason why they have largely escaped the attention of

scholars all these centuries. Muddy old roads, notelephones, lots of infectious plagues and filthy

highwaymen. How could something as big as 'King Lear' or'Macbeth' go undetected way way out there in the boondocks?

WISLAWA (voiceover)

Lots we don't know about. Without telecommunications? Can'tbombard the audience with facts though.

GEORGES (voiceover)

Mountains of facts. Forget the famous plays for now, and allthat anal analysis of every golden word of the Bard and hismad, lovely Sonnets. Look at the traveling Troupes on thehighways, the hidden years of Shakespeare, crazy stories.

London is lost to the provinces - Lancashire, Wales,Cheshire. Places we Americans have never heard of.

CUT BACK TO:

Our modern living room.

WISLAWA

Maybe I will have a glass of sherry, Professor.

GEORGES

Oh please, Georges. The Polish George. I don't want to beHerr Docteur Professor anymore.

WISLAWA

Georges. You're talking about a huge budget, and extravagant--

GEORGES (pouring them sherry)

Oh, I don't care about that. We can agonize our lives awaytrying to find a budget. I don't care. It's just between us.

I have no money, except to pay my rent and hire a goodgraduate research assistant. Nobody is going to believe meanyway, let alone put up the millions to tell the truth.

Will Derby had unlimited money as one of the richest men in

Great Britain. It didn't matter, he produced his plays, heenjoyed them in his castle in Cheshire, that's all thatmattered. He didn't try to get them published, not in theusual way, not to start with, for decades. Half his plays

never saw the light of day as far as we know, anyway;'Antony and Cleopatra' for instance; until the 1623 Folio of

most of his collected works, minus the poetry. That's anepisode in itself.

WISLAWA

Rich?

GEORGES

Oh yes. Who else has the leisure to sit around writingimpossible verse? Count Tolstoy had all the time and talentand money in the world, and so did Marcel Proust, Herod theGreat. It also brought evil forces down over their heads,

and his head by the next year, 1594, which is why I mention1593 as a good starting point for us - right in the middle

of the narrative. Or maybe the central Climax, in Act Three,as the Bard always did it. Everything changes at the climax,

I've noticed; in the middle of life. We may need FiveTelevision Acts to do all this, I suspect. Each one afeature length epic. That's what Homer did - who was aTrojan by the way, not a Greek. Start the battle of Troyright in the middle of it, years into it already when 'TheIliad' opens up. Marvelous technique of course. Political

science at work. '93 was their last good year. 1593 I mean,mean Elizabeth's last painful years as Queen. Will's father

the 4th Earl was still alive and producing a number oftheatre companies, as well as Will Stanley's infamous olderbrother Ferdinando Stanley. The unbearable tragedy to come.

No wonder our boy went underground and stayed there.

WISLAWA

I'm sorry?

GEORGES

To protect the family. They were being murdered. His mother,a real bitch, was first in line to succeed the Queen, for

one thing.

WISLAWA

Oh. I'm starting to see why this has to be a series. Far toomuch for a quick entertainment.

GEORGES

Always was.

WISLAWA

Impossible budget.

GEORGES

Don't even think about it. Will already took care of it. Theplays are everywhere, second only to the Bible in sales. We,

I, only need to know for our own sake. Our own selves.

WISLAWA

No one will believe it?

GEORGES

They haven't for four hundred years. Two thousand in Herod'scase. Four thousand in Egypt, and so on.

WISLAWA (confused, shaking her head)

Herod?

GEORGES

People. Now television - it's like the stars compressed downinto mythological stories. I like that. Compression.

Striking, brief, tight, and quick. Easier than a book.Accessible. I'm too sick to sit down to a pen and paper

anymore. Sore back too. You still want to do it?

WISLAWA

Fascinating. I don't understand a word of it though. Sort oflike Shakespeare. And we don't really want to try and get it

made? Produced?

GEORGES

Too much bother. Distraction. Like worrying about all theother candidates for the supreme title, including the Chapfrom Stratford-upon-Avon. No. Focus on the Mystery, and

solve it. Detective story. Full of murders and foulintrigue. Lathom Castle, Lancashire!

CUT:

Wislawa and Georges enter the 'virtual holographic' huge elizabethan castle, again; and they are in period costumes.

WISLAWA

Wow, again.

GEORGES

Marvelous. You make the movie go-round, as we develop thefacts and exposition. How does that sound?

WISLAWA

Beautiful dress. I love the fashions of --

GEORGES

Virtually, "virtual reality", I believe is the phrase youkids like? Video games and all that rot.

WISLAWA

So it's, who knows ... an exterior or interior set, day, ornight. Whatever we want? Design, art production, all of

that. And characters?

GEORGES

We'll get to that of course. How dare we presume to know theAuthor's true character, and manner of speech and all that,even though some great movies have been made of historicalcharacters we don't know anything about, like Mozart in

'Amadeus'. Adapted from the stage production.

WISLAWA

Cleopatra. The Beatles.

GEORGES

Yes. this is Lathom House, in Lancashire, northern England.Not far from Liverpool of Beatles' fame. Famous rich familygoing back centuries, filthy rich with land holdings andtitles, et cetera. They say their estates, their "Court",

were equalled only by Queen Elizabeth's. Wealth derived fromland, real estate, as it usually is all around the world.Hundreds, probably thousands, of English peasants working

it. It was a perfect environment for a theatrical prodigy, adramatic mind. He grew up with plays in the House, including

"mystery plays" of the Catholic church, and of course anOxford education, studied law. Can we inject in our scenerysome servants, players, a makeshift stage in the guildhall

or whatever it is called, as you did a minute ago?

WISLAWA

I guess so. I have to admit, I don't like these obscenely

rich types of people.

GEORGES (handing her papers and a book)

Lots of information, dimensions of the Great Hall at Lathom,harumph harumph.

WISLAWA (with a laptop)

Presto, magisto!

PEOPLE in elizabethan costumes appear everywhere again, working ,talking, not seeing the two intruders.

GEORGES

By George, I think you've got it! Imagine, what the life ofa great man must have been.

WISLAWA

It's the best we can do, I suppose. They can't see us?

GEORGES

I don't know. I suppose that's up to us.

WISLAWA

Ghosts in 'Harry Potter'?

GEORGES

Perhaps. I'll think about it. For now ... let's beinvisible, science fiction travelers from the future.

WISLAWA

We'll be needing some dialogue from someone, soon. Audiencesneed to relate to characters. Strong women too. Comedy.

GEORGES

Dialogue? I wonder what their accents were like? We reallydon't know. We do know the 'Old Pronunciations', however,which are quite a bit different than our modern, overly-reverent pronunciations. Rhyming words in the sonnets that

don't rhyme today, in today's vernacular that is.

WISLAWA

You're taking on an awful lot.

GEORGES

No hurry.

WISLAWA

And what's the central conflict, you know? Necessities ofdrama.

GEORGES

Us, and them? The truth betweeen then and now? The truth ofwhat really happened? What's behind 'The Tempest' and 'AMidsummer's Night Dream', really? And how much does it

matter? Do we really need to know the man, the creator, andthe mysterious fellow and why, why, the secrecy, really? The

nature of Literature, for that matter.

WISLAWA

Humanity. England. I must confess, Georges, I'm not a bigfan.

GEORGES

Of Shakespeare?

WISLAWA

Too violent. Obscure. And way overdone. Like this castle,with a moat and walls, for god's sake. And he doesn't really

care much for women. I mean, so what? Some pretty lovepoetry, yes, and some fabulous stage and film productions

over the years, yeah. I love great acting too, and the musicis marvelous, and all that.

GEORGES

A big industry.

WISLAWA

I mean, look at this. Okay, people are alive, living, busy,but ... how is this ... ah, I have to laugh. Here's a

conflict - you and me - fans of Shakespeare and those whodon't like him and his work, for a variety of reasons.

GEORGES

Maybe.

WISLAWA

Sorry, I'm probably speaking out of place. You probably wanta fanatic who knows every sugary phrase and scene, an expert

on all the history and everything.

GEORGES

No.

WISLAWA

It's not my field.

Georges

Nor mine, for that matter. We're quite out of place. Non-partisans, objective observers, perhaps. That might be

better. It might be of some value.

WISLAWA (on the laptop)

Let's see. Imagine, a set design, on a computer, googlethis, facebook that ... ah yes, here we go. Here's

something, Doc.

INTERIOR - A PLAY

ACTORS on the stage again, in grotesque masks, in the large hall, of LATHOM, with well-dressed audience of a few dozen laughing at the antics.

Wislawa and Georges are nowhere to be seen - they are gone.

ACTOR

Zounds, thou rump-fed runion!

He beats a CLOWN with a slapstick, and a DOG runs on stage, further throwing the audience into fits of laughter.

2 boys of 10 and 12 or so, are laughing at it too - WILL, the younger, and FERDINANDO, his older handsome brother.

WILL

Ferdy, oh, have you ever seen such a thing?

FERDINANDO

Look at that dog, Willy!

Their MOTHER and FATHER are not enjoying it so much, obviously having a spat - HENRY, 40, the 4th Earl, magnificently dressed; and LADY MARGARET, 35, unpleasantly overdressed - Their Names printed over:

GEORGES (voiceover)

William Stanley was born on July 20, 1561, the second son ofHenry Stanley the 4th Earl of Derby who was the greattheatrial impresario, as well as were several of his

ancestors. Theatre men.

WISLAWA (voiceover)

Going way back?

GEORGES (voiceover)

Oh yes. And his older brother Ferdinando, oldest son, heirto the Title, was 2 years older born in 1559. And then

there's the mother, Lady Margaret.

WISLAWA (voiceover)

What do you mean?

GEORGES (voiceover)

It's hard to say. Their marriage split up around that time,when the boys were still lads at home. Dad had a mistress of

course.

WISLAWA (voiceover)

Of course.

GEORGES (voiceover)

So Mom moved out.

WISLAWA (voiceover)

Good for her.

GEORGES (voiceover)

I hesitate to put words in their mouths. She was the grand-daughter of the daughter of King Henry the Seventh, Mary

Tudor, no less, and therefore, a direct heir to the Throne.

WISLAWA (voiceover)

Of what?

GEORGES (voiceover)

England. Wislawa, Shakespeare's mother, as I believe, washeiress presumptive to Elizabeth the First of England, from1578 to Lady Margaret's death in 1596. After his mother's

death, Ferdinado, the oldest son, would have been King. Whenhe died, before her, though - he was murdered, in 1594,young William Stanley inherited it all. In direct line to

the Throne.

CUT BACK TO:

Georges' modern study in Cambridge, where they are talking.

WISLAWA

No.

GEORGES

Sort of. Ferdinando's widow and daughters claimed a moredirect ... claim ... to the throne. Much more on that later.Much later. Not pleasant at all. You see why an old teacherof political science is interested in this ancient, obsolete

stuff?

WISLAWA

Not to mention the place of obsolete, incoherent literaturein it, and television. It's a whopping good story, Sir, if

nothing else.

GEORGES

I thought so. You see, my Dear, there are very good reasonson several levels for the mysterious fellow to hide hisidentity, and it had, has, nothing to do with the routinearguments of late, by other advocates of other candidates

for the exalted position of Britain's Bard, and theparamount champion of the English language as they would

have it as well, to use a pseudonym because, well, you knowhow disreputable the performing arts are. Theatre at the

time, probably about as ludicrous as television is today, atleast to pompous academics and others of the keepers of thepure flame of language and literature, harumph, harumph.

They fail to analyze their contradictions, however. You see,it has become commonplace to assign one William Shakspur ofthe remote burg of Stratford-on-Avon, to the pinnacle ofliterary divinity - at least as far as the questionable

english language goes. But, he is not a civilzed professorof the Arts. He was a common bumpkin by all accounts. So whyshould he give a damn if his name was associated with the

sleezy hustlers of the theatrical world? He was one of them,supposedly, and proud of it. Why must Academia assign himthe title? For the sake of democracy? And others argue forthe Nobility, and against the common working slob? Theascension of the common man with common public school

education? Why should he care about all that shit? As amatter of fact, he didn't. Never much claimed to be a

playwright at all, you see. It applies to the carpenter fromNazareth as well - a good working class peasant, orproletarian, you see, instead of a wealthy and highly

educated Nobleman, as Messiah, and King of the Jews? Anaristocrat? Unacceptable, in our socialistic milieu.

WISLAWA

You're losing me again.

GEORGES

I apologize. It's become a hopeless morass. We've wanderedaway from our story. And I'm sticking to it. You can go

around and around forever in the screaming hysteria of allthe other "candidates" - which we'll have to get into

eventually. Sigh.

WISLAWA

Please. It's enough to contemplate some dialogue with, whatwas her name, Lady Margaret? I don't know how to do it.

GEORGES

Mum. Mommy. I think it was key to our boy's nervousbreakdown in the Nineties. The Sonnets show a man

hysterical, crazy maybe even.

WISLAWA

Really?

GEORGES

Read a few of them. The bloody sonnets. Disturbing. Not veryadmirable, to me. A complex chap, no doubt about it. I can

understand, in a way, your lack of sympathy for him. We wantour heroes, our geniuses to be admirable, but ... maybe not.I also suspect, I'm sorry to say, there is a very ugly, even

squalid, biography of the man to uncover - that he, atleast, as well, wanted kept covered up.

WISLAWA

I don't admire a lot of brilliant pop stars or movie starseither. They are talented, but ... Jesus. What assholes.

Where to now, Doc? What's our next scene?

GEORGES

What do you think?

WISLAWA

It sounds like we'd have our hands full with just this firsttwo-hour pilot episode, as you've nailed it down, to the

death of his brother and William being named as heir to thethrone; or at the very least the title of Lord Derby. LordStrange? I'm guessing. The Climax, indeed, in the 3rd Act,feature segment, from what I can gather of the mountain of

facts. 1594?

GEORGES

Not only that, his father died too, in '93. Underquestionable circumstances. And the plays are getting

produced all over the place, by now, by then. And anothervery significant figure in the ongoing drama also died, was

murdered, earlier in '93, across town, one questionableplayer named Christopher Marlowe. And ... Will Derby he gotmarried, a very significant marriage, at the end of '94 -

no, the beginning of '95 - , to the daughter of the Earl ofOxford. It was definitely --

WISLAWA

Wow, whoa, again. That's a couple of episodes. If it'ssignificant.

GEORGES

Highly. I told you, it's a maxi-series, a big fat two-volumeset of Elizabethan history. Scholars --

WISLAWA

You're talking about at least several semesters of intensivework, with nothing else to get in the way. Just to organize

the structure.

GEORGES

The devil's in the details. And it must, Wislawa, must, Iemphasize, cover every single tiny little speck of research

everybody has ever done, which is a shitload of stuff.Civilization for as long as we've known it, from Egypt andPalestine through the birth of modern western culture.

WISLAWA

Palestine?

GEORGES

The Stanleys of Derby were Catholics, covertly; in a countrywhere Queen Elizabeth's Daddy the Eighth Henry of the Tudors

of course lopped off heads who didn't agree with hisreligious politics. Our Writer was walking a very fine line

indeed.

WISLAWA

And you're relating it to Palestine?

GEORGES

Christianity. Sir Thomas More wouldn't relent on hisdevotion to the Pope in Rome, the successor to Caesar, and

lost his head to Henry the Eighth's.

WISLAWA

Not to mention several wives.

GEORGES

Shakespeare was walking that thin tightrope all the time.Our boy lived until 1642, another significant date of the

period, and usually neglected by the partisans of the otherclaimants to the literary throne. That's another episode or

two.

WISLAWA

What?

GEORGES

1642? The Puritans closed all the theatres. Burned theStanley's castle at Lathom to the ground - and probably allhis pricelss manuscripts - immediately upon the 6th Earl'sdeath at the age of 80. Did they know who he really was -the sovereign of the hated, liberal, secularist, humanist,Theatre? Civil war ensued. Cromwell's Puritans lopped offthe king's head, Charles the First, and then William'm

oldest son's head too, in 1649, James Stanley, the 7th Earlof Derby, for fighting for the King - corrupt as hell ofcourse in his own right - against the intolerant fucking

christian fundamentalists.

WISLAWA

God.

GEORGES

Yeah. Shakespeare's home destroyed, his son murdered, thetruth buried under heaps of stupidity and tradition.

WISLAWA

Damn. I had no idea.

GEORGES

I think they did, though, at the time. Have an idea of it.Destroyed it, like the truth of Jesus Christ and what

happened in the first century A.D. Same liars weaselingtheir way into power. Same destructive phony religion. Yousee, my Dear, it's the same old war between secularisthumanists who hate the obvious corruption of churches or

synagogues, which, to them, proves there is no God, becausemen are lying power-mongers in the institutions. Whereas, inmy opinion and analysis of the contradictions, and in Will'sas well, there is definitely a God, and a Soul in men beyondthe physical logic and medical science; an animating forcein the body that goes beyond human democatic description.

There is more than life and death as the end of life,oblivion, as atheists suggest, because there are men likeWilliam Stanley - "W.S" - and Mozart in the world. Willdidn't write too much about religion -at least not underthat one pseudonym of Shake-speare, and he had at least

another one - , but there were other plays and poems at thesame time that directly attacked these important subjects,and men were beheaded for it, and burned at the stake.Women, too, of course. Many "witches". Anne Boleyn. Her

daughter Queen Elizabeth spent her life wreaking vengeancefor the hideous murder of her mother. All that was going on,Wislawa. Can you imagine sitting in the middle of it. World

war? The invasion of the Spanish Armada and the SpanishInquisition? Catholics coming to murder the Protestants andJews and Goddess-worshippers in a holocaust, a cataclysm, ofgenocide? And being a good Catholic yourself, having to hide

it, in the fury of that storm?

WISLAWA

The Stanleys were Catholics?

GEORGES

Yes. Shakespeare's plays and poems are obliquely Catholicoriented. So, how to dramatize all that? Catholic Mary queen

of Scots challenging Elizabeth, the Protestant Anglicandaughter of Henry VIII? The religious civil war intrigue wasas bloody and sickening as his plays, you're right. No man

with a brain and a heart at all would want his familyexposed to that constant, incessant, evil threat.

WISLAWA

And still his home was burned and his son beheaded.

GEORGES

But he got out the Work, published in 1623, and a secondFolio edition in 1632 while he was still alive, with

thousands of typos corrected, only by the Author - who hadto still be alive, he, alone of all the candidates to the

Name, still alive - and writing new additions to 'Othello'and 'Henry the Fifth' in the second edition.

WISLAWA

The whole Show is a lecture, Doc, a Seminar, a graduateseminar. Not really for HBO or even the BBC. I don't know

where to sell it.

GEORGES

Don't "sell" it anywhere.

WISLAWA

Throw in a lot of edits, with pix, and music, anddramatizations, I guess. We'll have to.

GEORGES

For now, I just want to get it right. Wherever it goes.That'll be hard enough.

WISLAWA

Okay. Whip out a first very rough draft. It's a whole newstory, no one is familiar with it.

GEORGES

How about some lunch? My treat.

WISLAWA

Yeah, cut to some contemporary street scenes in Cambridge,Mass. Make it relevant, accessible.

GEORGES

No, maybe not.

They leave.

FADE OUT

ACT TWO

EXTERIOR - DAY - ON THE ROAD IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1570s

A Traveling TROUPE of PLAYERS, on a muddy old road, in a remote country setting with no sign of a city; with Wagons, Horses. Prominent among the more roughly dressed ACTORS are 3 well-dressed men on good mounts -- HENRY, the 4th Earl of Derby, 45, and his sons FERDINANDO 18, handsome, dashing; and WILL, 16, also handsome and equally dashing. Their names, ages, dates, place printed.

They are laughing and singing, while the others listen, walking along with the wagons - with a few musicians playingguitars or lutes.

3 STANLEYS

"Threeee ... merry men be we!"

HENRY (jolly, friendly)

That's it lads - Sir Toby Belch and the clowns!

WILL (happy, shouting, exuberant)

Sir Toby Belch!

FERDINANDO

We'll need a pompous ass in the livery. Call him ... oh ...Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

WILL

Excellent, Ferdy! You play him. I'll be the clown.Touchstone?

HENRY

That's it, you have it - Sir Toby, Touchstone, andAguecheek!

3 STANLEYS

Three merry men be we!

They keep singing and laughing, along with the others, on the muddy road, on a lovely green day in the luxuriant countryside.

Their sound goes down, as WISLAWA will come on in voiceover as the NARRATOR:

NARRATOR

Henry Stanley, the 4th Earl of Derby, kept Players back in

the 1560s and 70s, and his father before that; and theyfrequently toured the remote English countryside as, amongother names, "Lord Strange's" men, pronounced 'Strang' oreven 'Straunge', going back in a complicated etymology

obscured by the centuries. More of that, in good time. Hisoldest son Ferdinando would become best known as Lord

Strange as he was a brilliant favorite of everyone who knewhim, especially his kid brother William who adored him. Bythe age of 16 at least Will probably joined his wonderful

father and brother - who was only two years older than him -on the road, sometimes; visiting other castles of the

Nobility to put on comic masques, acrobatics, animal acts,and occasionally some poetic recitals, probably. All we know

for sure is that the Stanleys were an exuberant TheatreFamily, and that their Acting Troupes continued actively

touring and performing for another 60 years.

The Troupe stil riding on the road.

WILL

Where to next, Dad?

NARRATOR

For want of a better understanding, the dialogue anddialects will have to be contemporary to our twenty-first

century familiarity. Deepest apologies to our Britishcousins.

HENRY

Guildhall, Exeter, 28 September 1577.

FERDINANDO

13 shillings, 4 pence. And then, let's see, Faversham, Kent,6 s, 8 d. Bath, Somerset, St. Mary's Guildhall Coventry --

WILL

Marvelous. I don't ever want it to end.

FERDINANDO

Who could ask for better - acrobats, dancing dogs, poetry inthe wind.

WILL

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought.

HENRY

Alliteration, boy, alliteration.

WILL

Sorry.

FERDINANDO

Fair land on a fine day. Fair and fine are alliterative too,Will, somewhat, but less so. Mind the beats of the meter

when on stage, at least.

WILL

Iambics.

FERDINANDO

Yes. Time the steps of the clown to the song and it'll befunnier. Audiences love it.

HENRY

As I saw the Italian commedia-'dell'arte last year. Oh,you'll have to see them, best theatre in Europe. Hilarious.

Perfection.

WILL

When do we go?

FERDINANDO

Why ever would I want to leave here? This sceptered Isle, wehave everything. The beats, the measures of the English

language of the bards.

WILL

I know.

HENRY

Ah, but a lad has to go see the world, I understand. I didtoo. It's not all in your books, Willy.

WILL

No.

FERDINANDO

But Oxford first, and Gray's Inn. Ah, here's the outskirtsof Exeter. Tally ho! Play, thou musicians, entice the

groundlings to the Guildhall!

The Troupe comes alive and more local travelers come their way, with a few buildings on the edge of a small town risingfrom the wider avenue.

3 STANLEYS (singing)

With a heigh nonny no, and a heigh nonny you, and yea!

PEOPLE

Lord Strange's Players!

NARRATOR

And for want of better information, except for a profoundchange that would come years later in his plays, long after

the bloody history chronicles of King Henry VI, a girl,certainly, was in a boy's life, sixteen years old. Call her

Juliet. Why not?

JULIET, a pretty blonde, 16, watches the Troupe happily in the crowd ... and catches Will's eye.

He jumps off his horse, like many of the other actors, and dances with her. She laughs as they spin around and around.

WILL

Oh ho, fair maid, thou'rt a fine dancer, and elf in themidsummer woods!

JULIET (laughing)

Stop! I'm getting dizzy!

WILL

Come to the play, fair Venus, and behold Adonis and hishoneyed songs!

JULIET

Stop, please.

WILL (he stops)

What beautiful dark eyes. Intelligent. What is your name?

But we can't hear her reply, in the shouts and noise and excitement as they arrive into the small town, at a guildhall outdoors, and set up their costumes and props on the makeshift stage. Ferdinando is collecting coins in front.

Juliet watches happily in the crowd, as Will joins other actors and is singing and dancing, and acrobats flip around with dancing dogs in clown costumes, but we can't hear it --only focusing on Will and Juliet smiling at each other.

Then FERDINANDO walks through the crowd with a guitar singing a beautiful love ballad, silencing the crowd with his beautiful voice.

FERDINANDO

Our dear Sovereign's father, Henry the Eighth wrote thissong, and called it 'Greensleeves'. Join me, sing along to

it. You all know it.

He sings Greensleeves and the whole large crowd joins in, including Juliet and Will.

CROSS FADE, TIME LAPSE:

Later that night, quiet and dim in a moon, WILL and JULIET are sitting by a pretty riverside, on the grass, alone, withthe town in the background, fairly quiet. Kissing. Gently.

JULIET

Oh, what is your name?

WILL

Will Derby.

JULIET

You have taken advantage of me.

WILL

No. You have taken advantage of me. All I want is a

meaningful relationship, but you, and girls, all you thinkabout is sex.

JULIET (laughing)

Oh. Such language.

WILL

What, sex? Sex. That's all you think about. But me, I, I --

JULIET

I know about you. I asked the other girls. They say you havea girl in every town.

WILL

I do not. You're the first girl I've ever kissed.

JULIET

Liar.

WILL

You're the one, when every acting troupe comes into town,I'll bet you have a dozen boyfriends. A beautiful woman like

you. In fact, that's what I've heard. When the Queen'sPlayer's come to town, and other troupes of players, and

Lord Hertford's Men and --

JULIET

Shut up and kiss me. You talk too much.

WILL (kissing)

I haven't even met your parents.

JULIET

Let's do it.

WILL

What?

JULIET (she starts taking off her clothes, and his)

Oh.

WILL

Uh ...

They're about half-undressed, laying on the grass, but he doesn't really know what to do.

JULIET

Oh God, you are ...

WILL (awkwardly, clumsy)

I.. uh ... I can't .. how.. do you. how do I ...

JULIET

Just put it in.

WILL

How do I get it over here ... if .. can you ...

JULIET

What? Oh. What's the matter? Oh my, you are so hard ... andstrong ...

WILL

Yeah, I just can't ... how does it go in? I ... can you ...

JULIET

What?

WILL

Can you hold it open for me? Is this the ... right ...hole .. or is that ... which ... one is that ... I don'twant to hurt you ... Is this ... that ... another hole,

or ...

JULIET

What? You've never done this before, have you?

WILL

I just don't see how .. which ... where is the ... how do Iget over to it?

JULIET (she starts laughing)

Are you ... this is where you put it.

WILL

Where? Here? No, isn't that ... I don't see, I can't findit.

JULIET

Now you've gone all .. you can't ... what took you so long?

WILL

Sorry.

JULIET

It's okay.

WILL

I just ... I mean, how do you get it over to it and stillkeep it hard so you can find your hole? I couldn't see ahole? What's so funny? I mean, with all our clothes in theway, and the grass is cold, aren't you cold? I mean, isn'tyour ass ... ? Our legs were getting all tangled up, Icouldn't ... oh okay... keep laughing ... real funny.

JULIET

You can't help it, can you? You are so funny, and sweet.

WILL

Yeah, a regular clown.

JULIET (getting dressed)

No, I think you're sweet. We don't have to do it.

WILL (pulling down her panties)

No wait, stop, don't get dressed.

JULIET (laughing hysterically)

Willy, stop!

WILL

No, please. Oh shit. Give me those panties. I want to takethem home.

JULIET (giggling)

Give me my underwear.

WILL

No. Now see what you did.

JULIET (looking at his underwear)

What? Is that ... ?

WILL

I don't know what it is. Sorry. How embarrassing.

JULIET

Did you ejaculate? Oh. How sweet.

WILL

Sweet? I completely lost control. You lay there all nakedand beautiful and I can't even do anything but embarrassmyself in my own pants. I mean, God. I couldn't ... I mean

it was ... and then ... it just ...

JULIET

I think you're a wonderful boy.

WILL

I am not. You're a wonderful girl though.

JULIET

We'll do it another time.

WILL

Oh yeah. No. A night like this never comes again. It can't.I mean, look how beautiful that moon is, and the river, and

what do I do - pee in my pants.

JULIET

It's not exactly pee.

WILL

Well it's not --

JULIET

You mean you really don't know what it is? Oh, you stillfeel so good and big.

WILL

Stop that. You want to drive me crazy? you're just ... Imean ... this isn't .. is this romantic? Is this what it is,

what it's supposed to be?

JULIET

Who knows? Who cares? It's not what it's supposed to be.

WILL

So if you're so smart, how is it it's impossible to find thehole? I mean the right hole? Quite laughing. Jesus. Smarty

pants. There's what, two holes? do you pee out of adifferent one? I thought it was way up here.

JULIET

No, it's way down here. I'm sitting on it.

WILL

Sitting on it? So is it just one hole? And the butt-hole Iguess too? I know that's a different one. That's at least

two holes then?

JULIET (laughing)

Stop it, I'll pee my pants!

WILL

Oh this is so romantic, isn't it?

JULIET

I love you!

WILL

What? No way. Love? I don't even ... I can't ... I love youtoo, I think.

JULIET

No. I better get home. It's really late.

WILL

Yeah, me too. My parents are probably sitting up worrying.I've kept the horse out really late. The family horse. I'll

take you home.

JULIET

You were supposed to take me home hours ago. And thentricked me to come down here by the river.

WILL

I did not. You were the one who seduced me. I was innocent,I tell you.

JULIET

I've had a wonderful time.

WILL

Me too. Where do you live?

They walk off hand in hand, in the moonlight, back to town.

CUT TO:

INTERIOR - NIGHT

WILL as an old man with white hair and a white beard, barelyrecognizable as the teenager boy, at a desk in a dark study.

WILL

The thing is, it's true, as crazy as it sounds - 'FirstLove' never leaves you. Juliet left me long ago, but in mydreams, in my soul, she and I are still young, together,forever. I don't care what anybody says. It's an actual,

physical fact of the human soul, which is eternal,goddamnit. At Death we re-live our lives, and that is the

eternity of heaven or hell, depending on how you lived yourlife. 'Romeo and Juliet' is completely unrealistic and

unbelievable. But in my heart, oh God. That was the singlegreatest night of my life.

CUT BACK TO:

WILL and JULIET still on the grassy, moonlight riverbank,

young and beautiful. She recites a sonnet:

JULIET

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,

And with old woes' new wail my dear time's waste:

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,

And weep afresh love's long since cancel'd woe,

And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,

Which I now pay as if not paid before.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.

CUT TO:

INTERIOR - NIGHT - AN INN

The ACTORS and WOMEN are all at a long table in a dingy, smoky Tavern drinking and eating and laughing and singing. WILL and JULIET are there, lovers, happy, and so is FERDINANDO and a pretty LADY with him too, all the best of friends.

NARRATOR

Lord Strange's Players toured to the Guildhall in BathSomerset; Lydd and Canterbury in Kent; Boothall in

Gloucester, and many other locations in those good earlyyears.

CUT:

WILL studying a dark cold college room, with piles of books all around him, in Latin and Greek especially.

NARRATOR

William Stanley attended St. John's College, Oxford from1572 when he was only eleven years old, until approximately

1576, touring with his family's theatre troupe in thesummers and putting on masques at Christmas; and then he was

a member of the prestigious Gray's Inn from '76 to '82,studying for the 'Bar'.

CUT:

EXTERIOR - NIGHT - ON A RAINY EXETER STREET

WILL gets off a stagecoach and walks up the dark cold streetto a nice house well-lit, on a good avenue. He knocks at thedoor, and JULIET opens it. She is dressed casually. They areboth still just 17.

JULIET

Willy!

WILL

Hi.

She hugs him exuberantly, and leads him in the nice well-lit

home. Her FATHER and MOTHER, in their 40s maybe, modestly but tastefully dressed as prosperous and kindly folks, smileand welcome him.

FATHER

Well hello William, come on in.

WILL

Thank you Sir. Madam. I hope I'm not intruding?

MOTHER

Oh not at all, we're always glad to see you William. Youlook cold and damp, I'll put the kettle on. Take off your

wet things.

WILL

Thank you. It is quite a tempest blowing in to Devon, theysay.

FATHER

Down from Gray's Inn?

WILL

Yes Sir. Term is over for now, so I took a room at theBoar's Inn here in town.

FATHER

Excellent. We'll fetch some dinner for you.

The parents go off, and Juliet takes the chance to give him a big hug and kiss.

JULIET

Oh, I'm so glad to see you. I think about you all the time.

WILL

So do I. I hate school.

JULIET

So ... you're staying in town?

They sit comfortably on a big couch in a cosy living room before a fire. The parents bring back food and drink.

FATHER

I've been wanting to ask you William, if it's okay, if yourstudies include subjects other than law?

WILLIAM

Oh yes. Thank you so much, the tea is saving my life. Andthe cheese is delicious.

MOTHER

It's nothing. Are you warming up? You look as if you have achill, my Boy?

WILL

Oh no, just a damp night. Yes sir, besides Latin and theChurch Missal of course, we study English history which I

find most interesting.

FATHER

That's what I was wondering.

JULIET

Girls are only allowed to attend the local public school.

FATHER

History, you say?

WILL

Yes Sir. It's funny, because I've heard so much of it frommy father, and grandfather and uncles, already, who ofcourse can trace our ancestry back to the Civil War --

JULIET

Between the Roses, of Lancastrians and York?

WILL

Exactly. Stanleys are Lancashires of course. Tudors. KingHenry VII was the Welsh Catholic, and my great-grandfather.

FATHER

Fascinating.

WILL

I've actually been working on a paper about Henry VI, andthe whole Succession morass. Quite a mess. Not much has been

written about it.

MOTHER

I'm afraid history is not one of my strong points.

WILL

It wasn't that long ago. My mother remembers her grandmotherwho was Mary Tudor.

JULIET

Daughter of Henry the Seventh, and sister of Henry theEighth.

WILL

Yes.

MOTHER

My goodness. Your mother remembers her?

WILL

As a girl. Our lineage is traced back through my mother,Lady Margaret Clifford.

MOTHER

Where is she now? Is she still living, William? Oh I'msorry, I can see that's an awkward question. None of my

business.

WILL

Oh no, that's all right. My parents separated years ago. Iwas just a boy. She lives in London.

FATHER

And your father, in Lancashire?

WILL

Yes.

MOTHER

Well ... Maybe we'll leave the kids alone for a few minutes,My Dear. If you can help me in the kitchen?

FATHER

Oh ... yes.

The parents exit. And Juliet snuggles up to Will.

JULIET

I thought they'd never leave.

WILL

I like them. You're lucky.

JULIET

I'm sorry to hear about your parents. I didn't know that.

WILL

No reason why you should.

JULIET

Oh, I'm so glad to see you. Will. William. You ... youknow ... I think you could be anything you want. You are so

talented.

WILL

Oh, I don't know.

JULIET

What do you want?

WILL

Oh... I'm interested in the Foreign Service. I might like tobe a diplomat, and travel. We're learning French and Germanand Italian of course, along with Latin and Greek. I could

--

JULIET

Oh, I'm so jealous. I'm only allowed to learn some culinaryarts, and sewing and all that nonsense.

WILL

I'm sorry. It's not fair.

JULIET

No it's not. All that girls are good for is to get married.and you, well, the whole world is wide open for you.

Anything you want.

WILL

I do want to travel. I can't wait to get out of this rainydreary country. Maybe we can run off to Rome!

JULIET

Oh, don't tease me. It's enough that mother lets me go offto Bath or Bristol sometimes and see your plays, and drink

with the fellows!

WILL

Oh they are marvelous, aren't they? I love actors. And tohave you there with me too, that's the greatest.

JULIET

Maybe you should be an actor, like Ferdinand.

WILL

No, my father says one dissolute player in the family isenough. I have to study law.

JULIET

I don't think you know how good you are.

WILL

What?

JULIET

On stage. You are really good.

WILL

What do you mean?

JULIET

Well, when you aren't being a little reticient, you can --

WILL

Reticient? Me?

JULIET

Well yes. You seem to be holding back, a lot. You can be sowarm and funny in the comic masques, and then your voice, oh

such a beautiful baritone. You're a natural.

WILL

I do love it, Juliet, I confess. I actually love steppingout on the stage. It seems like home to me, or something. I

feel so good and natural, up there.

JULIET

It shows. And the audiences really love you. You are sohandsome, you are such a valuable man ... Far too good for

me ...

She starts crying suddenly, and sinks into his chest.

WILL

Oh my god, what's the matter? Oh ... my darling ...

But she can't respond and keeps crying, more desperately.

SLOW CROSS-FADE, OUT TO THE STREET

WISLAWA the Narrator is standing outside their house, in therain, with an umbrella.

NARRATOR

How can we ever tell the story of what happens topeople,least of all in their hearts? It's melodrama, I know.The man who became William Shakespeare tried to understand

the human heart, so something of a fictional nature like ourlove story probably happened to him, something like this,

whoever he was. I don't think he'd mind that we're trying tounderstand. It is a tale he told full of sound and fury, andsilence, and imagination. The facts of Will Derby's life fit

so well with it - the same years as the eruption of theentire Elizabethan Renaissance, his immersion in the

overwhelming theatrical activities of his rich family, andhis long life well into the next century and two more

Sovereign, Kings James and Charles, describing one of thegreatest publishing feats in history. And thank God for it,

and little Juliet too, his sweetest love.

CUT TO:

Excerpt from the film of 'Romeo and Juliet' by Franco Zefferrelli, and the song 'What is a Youth: A Rose Will Bloom'.

SLOW FADE OUT

ACT THREE

INTERIOR - NIGHT - MODERN STUDY

WISLAWA and GEORGES are busy working at the desk with piles of papers and books all around, dirty dishes and coffee pot,etc.

GEORGES (reading)

Here's a good one: "The issue at hand is the Elizabethanacting companies and how to read them. We have been trainedto read playwrights, not acting companies, probably because

playwrights are easier."

WISLAWA (also reading)

"Henslowe's diary documents two periods of daily activity byStrange's Men: an extended period from 1 February - 22 June

1592, during which they offered 105 performances of 24different plays at the Rose theatre!"

GEORGES

That's amazing.

WISLAWA

And that's just in London at one theatre. Sometimes adifferent play every day!

GEORGES (continues reading)

" ... we should recognize a need to see the drama through toproduction, and that means seeing the drama into the handsof the organizations that copied it, rehearsed it, costumedand staged it, tried to profit from it, and sold some of it

to the publishers." That's, let's see, professor ScottMcMillin, just a few years ago at a Shakespeare Conference.

WISLAWA (reading)

Philip Henslowe's diary also records a shorter run of 29performances at the Rose between 29 December 1592 and 1

February 1593. A Show every day, in the winter.

GEORGES

What plays?

WISLAWA

Uh ... 'John of Bordeaux', 'A Knack To Know a Knave', 'TheBattle of Alcazar'. Playwrights unnamed, apparently. Dr.

Manley writes: "In what it tells us about Strange'srepertory, Henslowe's diary in the 1590s in London enablesus to reflect upon the ways in which this ... " Get this

Georges ... "this innovative and politically daring companyaddressed itself to the public mood and events of its time."

He's referring to the pyrotechnic special effects they used- fire on stage, beheaded prisoners, all kinds of difficulttricks they love in big budget films today. Henslowe was a

theatre owner and businessman.

GEORGES

Yeah. This is where we develop Will Derby's involvement inthe proof of his identity, I think, Wislawa. It was nice you

wanted to put in some human touches with an imaginarygirlfriend, sure, but that won't wash with the orthodox,

skeptical scholars out there.

WISLAWA

I know. But I want to know the man.

GEORGES

There's no proof of a wife, for instance, at all, untilOxford's daughter Elizabeth and their wedding in January1595, with the Queen in attendance, no less. I agree with

McMillin: "My vote for the most important advance that couldbe made just now in Elizabethan drama studies is for taking

the companies as the organizing units of dramaticproduction."

WISLAWA

"In the study of acting companies and their repertories,Strange's Men must loom large."

GEORGES

And it's a fact - in the 1580s when the Theatre wasexploding into its great years, most of the actors with LordStrange's Men also went to work with the Admiral's Men, the

Queen's Men, and by the 90s, Lord Chamberlain's Men at theGlobe Theatre, and then the King's Men when Liz died in 1603and King James came in. They were basically the same, one,premier company. The Royal Shakespeare Company, and the

Earls of Derby were the producers.

WISLAWA (reading)

Among others. Quote: "By name an older company that wasreinvigorated by actors taken from other companies in the

late 1580s, and dissolved by the end of 1593, this unusuallylarge and successful company helped to transform the dramaof its time. In the records associated with Strange's Men

are found the names of the principal actors - George Bryan,Thomas Pope, Augustine Phillips, William Kemp, John

Heminges, and Richard Burbage - who became partners withShakespeare in the newly formed Lord Chamberlain's Men in

1594."

GEORGES

Heminges was one of the two actors who are named asinstrumental in publishing Shakespeare's famous Folio of

1623.

WISLAWA

Heminges was an actor with Ferdinando Strange, who becameLord Derby when his father died in September of '93.

GEORGE

And Strange's Men became Derby's Men. Richard Burbage wasone of them, along with the famous star Ned Alleyn. Alleynis also a very important key, and reference, to establish

our man. Burbage of course originated, played, Hamlet, Lear,Macbeth, all the famous tragedian roles.

WISLAWA

"Aside from the Lord Admiral's Men, Strange's is the best-documented repertory in our single best source of evidence

about repertory companies, the diary of the theatreimpresario Philip Henslowe."

GEORGE

I want those sources and footnotes displayed prominently onthe television screen, too. No reason why TV shouldn't be

buttressed with scholarly proof of its assertions.

WISLAWA

Okay. Andrew Gurr's Cambridge University list, the REED listof all the early English performances all around the

Country.

GEORGES

And their productions of the acknowledged ShakespeareanCanon, with other acting companies, like Pembroke's Men.Professor Roslyn Knutson says here: "Pembroke's Men, who

acted in these same years and bore a relationship we do notyet grasp to Strange's Men."

WISLAWA

An honest admission.

GEORGES

There's a great deal they haven't grasped. 'The First Partof the Contention', and 'The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of

York', and '2 Henry VI'.

WISLAWA

All Shakespeare's?

GEORGES

Yes. Lord Strange's Men, we know for a fact, first producedthe known plays of Shakespeare.

WISLAWA

One thing I haven't perceived, yet, Georges, is, where doesthe name come from? If it's a pseudonym.

GEORGES

Not the Stratford chap. I think, look ... here's the onlyauthentic portrait of Ferdinando, probably in the 80s. I

believe it's verified.

They look at a picture in a big volume.

WISLAWA

Project it on the screen. Large.

GEORGES

What do you see old Ferdy proudly holding in his arm?

WISLAWA

A spear.

GEORGES

Clearly. It's not a sword or anything else?

WISLAWA

No.

GEORGES

It's so large and long it is not completely included in thepainting.

WISLAWA

Yes. Certainly a spear. For jousting maybe, that sort ofthing?

GEORGES

It was great sport back then. Noblemen were often athletes,sportsmen.

WISLAWA

Spear-carriers. So you think this is the origin of the name?A nickname, or stage name or something? Personal endearment?

GEORGES

Shakers and Movers. It's one concrete, hard fact, just aboutthe only portrait I could find, or reference of anything oranyone else for that matter, that proves a connection to a

"Spear". And it appears in a very prominent theatricalperson's official portrait. The name, as a writer, firstappeared in print in the Spring of 1593, on the dedicationof his poem 'Venus and Adonis', to the patron the Earl of

Southampton. The very first time the name of 'WilliamShakespeare' appeared in the pages of history. Now, the chap

from Stratford, of course is linked to it with his nameresembling Shakespeare, but it was almost always spelled

much differently and probably even pronounced differently -Shakspur, Shaxpere. Amazing inconsistencies. I don't thinkhe knew anything about it, all this fuss, Wislawa. He was abusinessman, yes, a wool and barley merchant as recorded inthe very brief facts, and went on business to London andinvested in a few of the theatre companies. Rather like abanker or venture capital entrepreneur from Cincinnati whogoes to New York and sees a few Broadway plays, and buys a

few shares from stockbrokers, and revels in the glamor maybeof meeting a beautiful star at Sardi's Restaurant. C'mon.That's all he was. That's the facts as we have them. His

investments paid off well and he became a prosperousmerchant back home in the Sticks of Stratford, far, far away

from the creative people on Broadway.

WISLAWA

That's it?

GEORGES

Essentially. The name, yes. But at his death in 1616,nothing. Not an obituary in Variety or anywhere else. Nobodynoticed, including in his hometown, or a word from any ofhis family. For a century. Zilch. Zero. The greatest and

most successful writer of all time?

WISLAWA

Just the name and ghastly portrait on the 1623 Folio?

GEORGES

Yes. The portrait could be anybody. But we'll get into theFolio and Ben Jonson's whole assertion later.

WISLAWA

Ben Jonson?

GEORGES

Another prominent playwright and hustler of the time, whocertainly knew the true identity. Well, maybe, he knew. Butthere is ample evidence of Derby's direct connection to theFolio, and the Aristocrats who paid for the extravagantlyexpensive volume - relatives of Derby's - and that's thesecond of the two greatest areas of evidence, of proof, ofWill Derby, along with his consistent involvement with all

these acting companies and their repertoires.

WISLAWA

Who were producing the famous plays by then? And youngWilliam, where was he by then, all this time?

GEORGES

You left him off at Gray's Inn, when he completed hisstudies for the Bar in 1582. He finally got his father'spermission to go abroad - to France. 21 years old, highlyeducated, rich, and charming. And there, in the next fewyears, some spectacular stories started to come out ofEurope, and they were written about in popular tales andtravelogues in 1801, and well-known, in Europe anyway,throughout the early 1800s. Books with titles like 'SirWilliam Stanley's Garland', first printed in 1800, and 'A

Brief Account of the Travels of the Celebrated Sir WilliamStanley', 1801.

WISLAWA

Really?

GEORGES

So you see, my Dear, he was not as unknown or unremarked asour shakespearean scholars today would have us believe.

WISLAWA

"The celebrated William Stanley"? Good lord. W.S. And allthese travels - let me guess: were to Italy and many of the

countries written about in the plays?

GEORGE

Yes indeed. Including North Africa and the Middle East. Agreat deal of religious content and intent in them. It'svery exciting - romantic, tragic, eloquent, dangerous. An

extraordinary man, by every account. And he could write likea sonuvabitch!

WISLAWA

You're such a tease. And back in merry olde Englande?

GEORGES

Daddy and Big Bro were busy producing the Show Biz aspects,and probably doing some writing themselves, at enormous

expense to the family fortunes. Junior was probablyscribbling by then too, sending home plays about clowns and

fools in Italy - inspired by the Commedia - , kings andqueens in France, doctors of philosophy in Germany, you nameit. Somewhere along in there, he started writing. Somebody

started writing, anyway.

WISLAWA

Conjecture? Early, and on into the mid-80s? You talk aboutme, imagining fictional scenarios.

GEORGES

Something big was happening, my Dear. Somebody was startingto write up a storm. And herein I should explain there wereother, questionable names of other writers starting to come

in with texts, and who, who, was really behind all thoseanonymous playscripts. The mystery deepens and widens now.Hang on to your shorts. The fun is only just beginning.

TAG

CUT TO:

EXTERIOR - DAY - ITALY

WILL is 21 and dressed colorfully as a Commedia clown, dancing and singing with a dozen other ITALIAN ACTORS and Musicians in a picturesque village, cheered by laughing audiences in the road, working their way up to a STAGE in the back of a big Wagon, decorated with banners and colors and happy things.

SLOW FADE OUT