TIM ENTHOVEN FOR "M THE MAGAZINE OF THE WORLD"
InvestigationSince the nineteenth century, there are many doubts that "Hamlet" or "The Dream of a Summer Night" were signed by a boyfriend son born in Stratford-upon-Avon. A taboo for the British university community.
With its thatched roof and half-timbered facade, the Globe Theater emerges from the fog London, this Sunday morning, as an apparition of the XVIIe century. From 10 am, a crowd rushes into the theater hall: the next performance of Richard III However, it will only take place at 2 pm
But instead of taking the road to the candlelit winter stage, the crowd descends the stairs to a modern amphitheater. At the entrance to it, tea is served on white tablecloths. An imposing cake, decorated with the phrase "Now gather and overdrive," from Hamlet, sets the tone of the meeting: "Now, meditate on everything, and conclude. "
The question of identity
As every year since 2003, the Shakespearean Authorship Trust offers a day of conferences whose ambition is to advance research on the issue of Shakespeare's identity. In the room, a majority of white heads and some PhDs await the start of the festivities. This year, the somewhat difficult theme focuses on the figure of Earl of Essex and his plot against Queen Elizabeth Ire.
World-renowned history pundits, such as New Zealander Paul Hammer, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, are invited to present their work. Supreme Luxury: When quoting excerpts of text, it is Derek Jacobi himself, a great Shakespearean comedian member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, who gets up from his seat and declaims.
According to the organizers, a few tickets are sold every year to curious people who have come expressly for this purpose. This year, the title of the program is taken from Henry IV : "He told me that the rebellion had bad luck. " As an echo of the audacious 2018 edition, which was interested in the genre in Shakespeare.
That year, journalist Elizabeth Winkler made an unexpected presentation on the figure of the poet Emilia Bassano, whose many bridges between her life and Shakespeare's work may suggest that she played a role in the birth of sonnets and coins. The august assembly had then warned the journalist that the answer from the rear guard was likely to be acidic.
A few months later, the "one" of The Atlantic, Was Shakespeare a woman? Elizabeth Winkler has, as expected, sparked a wave of outrage in the community of scholars and worshipers of the British sacred monster. For in the academic world, the question of the writer's identity (and even more so) remains an absolute taboo, to the point of costing their thesis or career to those who dare to ask it aloud.