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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
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