Will Shakespeare: An Invention in Four Acts

BY THE SAME AUTHOR NOVELS : REGIMENT OF WOMEN FIRST THE BLADE LEGEND PLAY : A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
BY
CLEMENCE DANE
‘ There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. ’
Shakespeare.
The Play was first acted at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, on November 17th, 1921, by the Reandean Company, with the following cast:—
Strolling Players, Beefeaters, Stage Hands, Drinkers, Court Attendants, etc.
The Production by BASIL DEAN. The Music by THOMAS WOOD. Designs for the Scenery and Dresses by GEORGE HARRIS.
The curtain rises on the living room of a sixteenth century cottage. The walls and ceiling are of black beams and white-washed plaster. On the left is a large oven fireplace with logs burning. Beyond it is a door. At the back is another door and a mullioned window half open giving a glimpse of bare garden hedge and winter sky. On the right wall is a staircase running down from the ceiling into the room, a dresser and a light shelf holding a book or two. Under the shelf is a small table piled with papers, ink-stand, sand box and so on. At it sits Shakespeare, his elbows on his papers, his head in his hands, absorbed. He is a boy of twenty but looks older. He is dark and slight. His voice is low, but, he speaks very clearly. Behind him Anne Hathaway moves to and fro from dresser to the central table, laying a meal. She is a slender, pale woman with reddish hair. Her movements are quick and furtive and she has a high sweet voice that shrills too easily.
Shakespeare. Out!
Anne. Where?
Shakespeare. Anywhere—