A WASTE OF SHAME: THE MYSTERY OF SHAKESPEARE AND HIS SONNETS.

UK, 2005, 90 minutes, Colour.
Rupert Graves, Tom Sturridge, Indira Varma, Zoe Wanamaker, Anna Chancellor, Andrew Tiernan, Nicky Henson, Alan Williams, Nicholas Rowe, John Voce.
Directed by John Mc Kay.

A Waste of Shame is a speculation about Shakespeare’s life, his writing his sonnets, the object of his affections – real or simply imagined and literary.

This film, directed by John Mc Kay (Crush, Piccadilly Jim) was written by novelist William Boyd. Boyd’s contention is that, after the death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet, he was intrigued by William Herbert, son of the Duchess of Pembroke. He had written sonnets on her behalf to encourage the boy to marry. However, on meeting him, he becomes infatuated. The Dark Lady of the sonnets is a prostitute in one of the inns in London that he frequents. Later, William Herbert sets up Lucie, the French prostitute, in her own quarters – which has a deep effect on Shakespeare.

In the meantime, the film also shows Shakespeare writing his plays, discussing with the manager of the theatres, with the actors. It also shows his clashes with Anne Hathaway in Stratford-on-Avon?.

As a companion piece to Shakespeare in Love, it offers an interesting interpretation of Shakespeare, writing his plays in ordinary circumstances, a gifted author but a flawed man in fact.

Rupert Graves is very good as Shakespeare – and is heard in voice-over with many quotations from the sonnets (with the title of the film coming from one of them). Tom Sturridge (The Boat That Rocked) is William Herbert.

1.Interest in Shakespeare, as a person, as a dramatist, as a poet? How satisfying this portrait?

2.The re-creation of London, the 16th and 17th centuries? Stratford-on-Avon? Costumes and décor? Theatre, inns, streets, homes? The musical score?

3.The title, Shakespeare and his sonnets, the composition, the emotions, lust, the excerpt for the title?

4.The screenplay by William Boyd, his speculations, the persons addressed in the sonnets? Real, fictitious? The plausibility of this plot?

5.The quotations from the sonnets, Rupert Graves’ recitation, their place in Shakespeare’s poetry?

6.Shakespeare, his age in this story, as a writer, thirty, his relationship with the actors, writing the plays, the performances in the theatre, his appearing in the audiences, the response of the audiences and the cross-section of people? The upper galleries for the wealthy? Shakespeare’s life, marriage when young, his relationship with Anne Hathaway, with his children? As a womaniser, the inns? The way of life for men at the time? Going to Stratford, the encounter with Anne Hathaway, her shrewish behaviour? His boy, comforting him as he died? The discussions with the apothecary? The discussions with his father, his reliance on his father? His debts? His leaving – and the later return to Stratford to visit the apothecary when he had the disease, looking in the window, leaving? His retirement in Stratford?

7.The years passing, the glimpses of Shakespeare – and the indications of dates?

8.The Duchess of Pembroke, her commission to write the sonnets, the poems to encourage her son to marry? William Herbert and his appearance, Shakespeare’s attraction, the first meeting? The later meetings, their discussions, his visits to the inns, the women, at the river, swimming naked? The friendship? The plague in London, the city emptying? William Herbert and his entourage leaving? The distance between them? His attendance at the performances? The infatuation and the tone of the poems?

9.Lucie, at the inn, Shakespeare attracted to her, her life, relationships, the son in France, backwards and forwards to and from France? The innkeeper, his ordering her to the clients? Shakespeare confiding in her? Her moving out, the maid, Shakespeare’s visit, her cutting him off?

10.The theatre background, the Chamberlain, the theatres, the plague, the plays?

11.Ben Jonson, his writing, his friendship with Shakespeare, the rivalry, their discussions, going to the inns, his relationship with Lucie, the set-up – and Shakespeare discovering that it was William Herbert who had installed her in her house?

12.Shakespeare’s own illness, the sores, going to Stratford, the apothecary, the harsh treatment for health?

13.The glimpse of the actors, their personalities, their skills, their performances? Concern about audiences? Wanting the plays?

14.The innkeeper, the range of clients, the raucous life at the inns, drinking and womanising?

15.A glimpse of Shakespeare, the context for his art?