Special Topic

Introduction
The Question That Won’t Go Away:
Did the Man From Stratford Really Write the Plays?

<u><em>Introduction</em></u><br>The Question That Won’t Go Away: <br><em>Did the Man From Stratford Really Write the Plays?</em>

Don Rubin* Abstract: This is an introduction to a eight essay section on the Shakespeare Authorship Question. The introduction suggests that there are significant irregularities in the traditional biography, that the authorship question has a history of some 400 years

Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance: Reasonable Doubt about the Identity of William Shakespeare

Derek Jacobi* and Mark Rylance** Abstract: This paper presents the edited transcript of a conversation between two distinguished Shakespearean actors, Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, about why the Shakespeare Authorship Question should be accorded respect and taken more seriously by

A Theatre Artist’s Path:
Questioning Shakespeare’s Authorship

A Theatre Artist’s Path:<br>Questioning Shakespeare’s Authorship

Keir Cutler* Abstract: This paper offers the reflections of a Canadian actor on the “Shakespeare Authorship Question.” After completing his Ph.D. in Theatre, the writer found himself asking why, in all his years in academe, no one ever mentioned that

What’s the Question in Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography?

Literary Paper Trails Diana Price* Abstract: American researcher and independent scholar Diana Price provides evidence that there are significant irregularities in the standard biography of the putative author of the plays of Shakespeare comparing documentation on the life of the

Transforming Productions of Shakespeare’s Plays

Gary Goldstein* Abstract: In the present paper, the author explores how the authorship debate can change the ways in which the Shakespeare plays are produced if the true Shakespeare was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, and if

Shakespeare as Lawyer
Hamlet: Death, Property, and the Pursuit of Justice

<em>Shakespeare as Lawyer</em> <br> <em>Hamlet</em>: Death, Property, and the Pursuit of Justice

Thomas Regnier* Abstract: This essay, by distinguished American legal scholar Thomas Regnier, looks at the extraordinary knowledge of the law that Shakespeare—whoever he was—displayed in numerous plays, especially Hamlet. Originally published in the academic journal Brief Chronicles (2011: Vol. III) and edited

The Argument for Edward de Vere: “Shake-speare” Was a Man of the Theatre

Hank Whittemore* Abstract: Whoever the author of the Shakespeare canon was, he had to be a man of the theatre. American actor Hank Whittemore argues that one of the leading candidates for the honor was himself someone with significant theatrical

Pourquoi ‘John Florio, alias Shakespeare’ ?

Pourquoi <em>‘John Florio, alias Shakespeare’</em> ?

Michel Vaïs* Résumé: La question de la paternité de l’œuvre de Shakespeare revient brusquement dans l’actualité avec la recherche révolutionnaire de Lamberto Tassinari. L’intuition de ce Montréalais, italien d’origine, fasciné par le transculturel, lui fait remettre en question un mythe séculaire.

An Interview with Mark Rylance
“It’s important to know how great works of theatre are made”

An Interview with Mark Rylance<br>“It’s important to know how great works of theatre are made”

Abstract: The former artistic director of the rebuilt Globe Theatre in London argues, in a 2018 BBC interview, that if great works of theatre are to be made in future, it is important to understand how such works were created