Shakespeare in Love

Background Information and Activities

What is the play about?
Will Shakespeare is a known but struggling poet, playwright and actor who not only has
sold his next play to both Philip Henslow and Richard Burbidge but now faces a far more
difficult problem: he is bereft of ideas and has yet to begin writing. He is in search of his
muse, the woman who will inspire him but all attempts fail him until he meets the beautiful
Viola de Lesseps. She loves the theatre and would like nothing more than to take to the
stage but is forbidden from doing so as only men can be actors. She is also a great admirer
of Shakespeare's works. Dressing as a man and going by the name of Thomas Kent, she
auditions and is ideal for a part in his next play. Shakespeare soon sees through her
disguise and they begin a love affair, one they know cannot end happily for them as he is
already married and she has been promised to the dour Lord Wessex. As the company
rehearses his new play, Will and Viola's love is transferred to the written page leading to the
masterpiece that is Romeo and Juliet. --- summary from IMDb
In other words.

This is a FICTIONAL play that asks the question what might have been going on
in William Shakespeares life that inspired him to write Romeo & Juliet? The
characters are real, in a sense, but the things that happen to them are purely fiction.
Important to know.
Shakespeare in Love was actually a movie before it was a play!
It was released in 1998 and won 7 Oscars!!

(thats 2 years after the Leonardo version of R&J -

Shakespeare was enjoying a bit of a resurgence at

that point)
Who are the main characters?
Will Shakespeare, an actor and aspiring playwright

Viola de Lesseps, a young woman from a wealthy family

Lord Wessex, an aristocrat in debt and in search of a rich wife

The Nurse, a servant to Viola in the de Lesseps household

Queen Elizabeth I, monarch of England

Phillip Henslowe, a theater owner

Kit Marlowe, a famous playwright and friend to Will

Who is Viola?
Early in the play, Viola says to her Nurse:

All the men at court are without poetry. If they look at me they see my fathers
fortune. I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all.

What is Viola saying in these lines? What can we learn about her character from what
she says? Now rewrite these lines from the perspective of young person living in 2017.
Can Violas sentiment translate in a modern context? Are the things Viola longs for
easier or harder to obtain in todays world? What might having poetry in my life look
like today? Can you relate to the things Viola is longing for?
Writers Block
In one scene, Will is struggling with finding the right words to complete one of his
famous sonnets. The words in bold are the words he got stuck on. Read the sonnet
on the next slide and see if you agree with his final word choices, in bold.
 Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines
By chance, or natures changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,
Nor shall death brag thou wandrest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou growst.
>So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Romeo & Juliet is an inspiration for SiL
We have talked about allusion, when one literary work makes reference to another.

In Shakespeare in Love, there are MANY allusions to Shakespeare's other works.

However, the foundation of the story like comes from Romeo and Juliet.

The connections Shakespeare in Love makes with Romeo and Juliet are evident in
the relationship between Will and Viola (who are also star crossed lovers), and the
bitter rivalry between Henslow and Burbage, two theater impresarios (people who
organize and finance). Theres even a case of mistakenly believing someone is dead
when they, in fact, are not.
In addition to allusion, SiL also uses:
Trope: conventions, devices, and details that are drawn from a pre-existing
work or genre to act as a kind of narrative shorthand or easily recognized
storytelling pattern.

Intertextuality: drawing on elements from existing texts through direct

references or inference to create a new text using allusions, parody,
pastiche, among other techniques and devices.
Here are some important ideas from R&J that you
may recognize in SiL
grudges and disputes between two factions
a festive occasion to bring lovers together
a balcony scene for a nighttime rendezvous
a loyal servant acting as a discreet go-between
the loss of a loyal friend to a tragic encounter
tragic misunderstanding that leads to the lovers deaths
At the beginning of the story, Will is interested in a woman named Rosaline.
Sound familiar?
Will also starts off writing a play titled Romeo and Ethel the Pirates daughter.
You can see that went through a few edits :)
Quotes and lines
You will notice lots of lines from Romeo and Juliet will pop up in Shakespeare in
Love! Sometimes they will be rehearsal for the play Will is producing, sometimes
they will be between other characters in the story. This is NOT a coincidence! And
its not plagiarism, because we all clearly know the source of the material.

A rose by any other name

A plague on both your houses!

Want some examples?
Scene #1 Rivalry and romantic desire revealed 9:3311:51
Scene #2 Party at Violas home 27:0830:30
Scene #3 A balcony scene 30:3732:07
Scene #4 A night of guarded, stolen passion 45:5649:41
Scene #5 A public confrontation among rivals 65:3068:40
Scene #6 More confrontation and swordplay between romantic rivals
81:0084:35
How is the play different than the movie?
Much more than with film, theater requires the audience to imagine a great deal of the plays world. A theater performance
is done in one take, without location changes, moving cameras and close-ups. Theater artists (directors, actors, designers)
create a canvas for the world, but its not until each audience member is involved that the play comes to life. In preparation
for seeing Chicago Shakespeares production, watch scene 6 of the film (beginning at approximately 21:08). As Will chases
Viola, the scene moves quickly through backstage, London streets, on the dock and finally by boat until they reach her
home. The audience is transported to each location as the camera shots change; however, a live performance may limit
the capability of so many scene changes in real time. In small groups, re-read scene 6 of the play, and discuss how the
playwrights adapted the scene in order to tackle the challenge of scene changes:

How does the story in the play differ from the film setting up Wills impulse to follow Viola?

How does the proximity of Will and Viola on stage affect their relationship and this scene between them?
Consider now how you would stage this scene for the theater, determining your solutions to the following questions:

Will yours include a chase? And, if so, how will you stage the chase?

What elements of the film might you consider adding to the play without changing the text?

How might you utilize other areas of the theater in addition to the stage during the scene?

What role will other cast members play in the scene?

How might you conceptualize a set design that would allow the story to transition from the playhouse to Viola's
home? [To the teacher: you may want to consider making half the groups Broadway productions, with unlimited
space and budgets, and half the groups storefront productions, where the audiences imagination will do a
great deal of the work, prompted by a creative solution in the design.]

How are music and lighting used to create a sense of inspiration, intimacy, or urgency?
After the performance discuss the directors choices. What choices aligned with your imagined interpretation of this
scene? Were there elements from the film that you missed and would have added to the performance?
For further reading
THE RENAISSANCE THEATER
The early modern theater of Shakespeares time, from traveling troupes in courtyards to the
emergence of the first public theaters

SHAKESPEARES ENGLAND
Political, economic and social changes under Queen Elizabeth I