"Shakespeare in Love"
    A Film Review by
    Linda Lopez McAlister
    on "The Women"s Show"
    WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL



It would be practically impossible for a feminist familiar with Virginia
Woolf's famous passge about Judith Shakespeare in her book "A Room of One's
Own" without thinking about it throughout the screening of John Madden's
delightful new film "Shakespeare in Love."  In case some of our listeners
don't know the Woolf piece, let me just say, briefly, that in it she
addresses the question why there haven't been any women writers as great as,
say, Shakespeare.  And she replies by painting for us a word picture of an
imaginary young woman, Judith Shakespeare, who is supposed to be William
Shakespeare's younger sister and who not only possessed as great a natural
talent for writing as her brother, but who was equally passionate about
practicing his trade in the theaters of London.    Woolf persuasively
illustrates the fact that, given the social conditions of the time, there
was no way that this talented young woman would be able to develop her craft
and succeed as a writer in that day and age.  She would, instead, in all
liklihood, die in childbirth and be buried near the spot where the Elephant
and Castle bus stop is today.

     Watching "Shakespeare in Love" through this lens, one cannot help but
recognize just how right Woolfe was.  No, there's no Judith Shakespeare in
the film, but knowing her story makes one pay close attention to the women
that are in the film and what their lives were like as compared with those
of the men surrounding them.   William Shakespeare was married as a very
young man to a woman considerably older than he, and they had several
children.  If the same thing had happened to Judith, she'd still be in
Stratford-on-Avon keeping house and caring for her children.  But Will
wasn't hampered in his pursuit of his dream by such a trifle, he's off to
London where he earns his living as an actor and writes plays on the side.
Supposing Judith somehow had been able to get to London; she could not have
done the same because the female roles in the plays of the time were all
played by young men.  In fact, we learn from the film that if a woman were
to appear on stage in a play the Lord Chamberlain's office would shut down
the theater on charges of lewdness and the actors, including the offending
woman, would all be hauled off to prison.

In the film, William Shakespeare's true love is Viola DeLessups (played by
Joseph Fiennes and Gweneth Paltrow respectively).  The only way DeLessups
can get near the theater is to disguise herself as a young man, so it is she
who is cast as Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette (the working title
of which was Romeo and Ethel the Pirate King's Daughter!)   But to do this
she needs the cooperation of her nurse, the boatmen who ferry people across
the Thames, and the degree of freedom she has as the daughter of a wealthy
family so she doesn't have to worry about earning a living.  Judith
Shakespeare would, as Woolfe predicted, end up more like Rosaline, Richard
Burbadige's mistress.

     Despite abandoning his family in Stratford, Shakespeare here is
portrayed as a most attractive and delightful young man whose writer's block
is removed when he falls in love with the beautiful Viola De Lessups (not
knowing at first that she is the Master Edward Kent who is playing Romeo in
his new play.  But as their love develops and then differences in their
class and their respective duties begin to make it clear that their love is
doomed.  The play (being written even while they are in rehearsal) changes
from a comedy about Ethel the Pirate's Daughter to the tragedy of
star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.   Due to a variety of circumstances,
during the first performance Will ends up playing Romeo and Viola goes on as
Juliet.  Only the miraculous intervention of Queen Elizabeth (Judi Densch)
keeps them from going to jail.  She arranges for Shakespeare to receive a
tidy sum of money from Viola's new husband who is taking her away to
Virginia.  And, before she goes she suggests the plot of Shakespeare's new
play to him, the one that has Viola as its leading lady and that the Queen
had demanded be ready to be performed by Twelfth Night.

    The film has a great supporting cast including Geoffrey Rush, Ben
Afflek, Colin Firth, Simon Callow and others.  It's sumptuous and beautiful
to look at, with a great screenplay that is the work of Marc Norman and the
ever-ingenious playwright Tom Stoppard.  I wouldn't be surprised if Fiennes
and Paltrow both win Oscars for their performances.  By the way, I read the
other day that there's yet another Fiennes on the screen horizon, Ralph and
Joseph have a sister Martha Fiennes and she is making her debut behind the
camera directing brother Ralph in a forthcoming film version of the classic
Russian tale Eugene Onegin.  Thank the goddess that in this day and age if a
sister shares her brothers' talent and passion for filmmaking she CAN pursue
her dream just as much as they can!

For the WMNF Women's Show this is Linda Lopez McAlister on women and film.




Linda Lopez McAlister, Chair
*    Dept. of Women's Studies, FAO 153
*    University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620
*    mcalister@chuma1.cas.usf.edu