News & Events
 
Kenneth Branagh and the Shakespeare authorship question

Very exciting news has emerged this weekend – Kenneth Branagh is reported to have declared his doubts in the authorship question and that he is "swayed by the theory" that Edward de Vere was the author.

Branagh now joins Sir Derek Jacobi (patron of the DVS) and Mark Rylance (former Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre) in the list of high profile contemporary Shakespearian actors to make public their doubts about Shakspere of Stratford.

It is a very significant development for the Oxfordian movement. Of all the modern English Shakespearian actors, Branagh probably has the highest profile in the popular mind. If this wonderful news attracts the attention of the media, I can think of nothing in the last twenty years that will do more over here to encourage the seeds of doubt in the minds of the general public and help to generate a forthright debate on the subject.

Dare we hope that Branagh will now become an advocate in the authorship question?

I've had the pleasure of seeing Branagh perform on stage in four of De Vere's plays – the first when he was just out of RADA in 1984 was in Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford. One could tell that he was going to go far when he decided that in order to prepare himself for the role, he contacted Prince Charles, who agreed to see him in order to share his personal thoughts on what it was like to await kingship. Then, after he had founded the Renaissance Theatre Company (Patron, HRH Prince of Wales), I saw their two touring productions – King Lear (with Richard Briers in the title role) and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1990. Then I the great pleasure of seeing his spellbinding Hamlet at the RSC in 1992.

Jeremy Crick

The news that Branagh favours Oxford was first published in the following article in the Sunday Express:

BARD ACTOR: ‘SHAKESPEARE MAY NOT HAVE WRITTEN ALL HIS PLAYS'
Sunday May 3, 2009
By Sandro Monetti

SHAKESPEAREAN actor Kenneth Branagh has questioned the true identity of the author of the plays to which the star has devoted his career.

He admits he is beginning to be swayed by the theory that the true author was not William Shakespeare but the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere.
Branagh said: “There is room for reasonable doubt. De Vere is the latest and the hottest candidate.

“There is a convincing argument that only a nobleman like him could write of exotic settings and that William Shakespeare was a simple country boy.”

Branagh, who has been Oscar nominated three times for his work on Shakespearian films, added: “I’m fascinated by all the speculation.

“If someone could find conclusive proof that Shakespeare wasn’t the author of the plays then it would cause a seismic shock – not least to the economy of Stratford-upon-Avon.”

He was speaking at the US premiere of his BAFTA-winning Swedish detective series, Wallander.

Go to the Express article