{"id":1561,"date":"2016-11-09T16:22:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-09T16:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=1561"},"modified":"2018-08-30T20:22:04","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T20:22:04","slug":"theatre-in-film-shakespeare-in-love-1998","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-shakespeare-in-love-1998\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre in Film: Shakespeare in Love (1998)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes section-header-post\" style=\"margin-top:;margin-bottom:;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><h3>Theatre in Film: <em>Shakespeare in Love<\/em> (1998)<\/h3>\n<font size=\"2\" color=\"grey\"><span style=\"border:1px solid ;-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\" class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-glow imageframe-1 hover-type-none author-image\"><a class=\"fusion-no-lightbox\" href=\"http:\/\/performerstuff.com\" target=\"_self\"> <img src=\"http:\/\/mgs.performerstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/authorimage.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"img-responsive\" style=\"-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;\"\/><\/a><\/span><p>Written by Ashleigh Gardner<\/p>\n<p>November 8, 2016<\/p>\n<\/font><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes section-body-post\" style=\"margin-top:;margin-bottom:;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\">We return to Part V in our Theatre in Film series, a weekly segment of Performer Stuff\u2019s blog where we discuss a film that features a life in theatre. Part V of Theatre in Film celebrates movies from 1995 to 1999 that feature social, moral, and ethical issues within the theatre. This week, we feature the 1998, seven-time Academy Award winning film (co-written by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman)\u00a0<em>Shakespeare in Love.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><i>Shakespeare in Love<\/i> (1998)<\/h4>\n<br><div align=\"center\"><div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube\" style=\"max-width:600px;max-height:350px;\"><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_CxNF4eA6yw?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div><br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Director: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">John Madden<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Starring: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, and Judi Dench<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">What happens:<\/h4>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1593, London. Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) owns the Rose Theatre and is in tremendous debt. To escape the wrath of those he owes, he commissions William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) to write him a comedy that will bring The Rose Theatre money. Unlucky for Henslowe, Shakespeare is suffering from writer\u2019s block and must find a muse to inspire him again. He finds his inspiration in Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), a woman betrothed to the Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). She escapes her high-born family\u2019s castle to audition for his new play and appears as Thomas Kent, and is cast as Romeo. When Shakespeare finds out that she is Viola de Lesseps, they begin an affair that endangers Shakespeare\u2019s career, Viola\u2019s reputation, and the life of Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the eve of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Romeo and Juliet<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s debut performance, it\u2019s revealed that Viola is not a man, but a woman. The theatre is shut down, and the play is cancelled. Richard Burbage (Martin Clunes) takes pity on the cast, as they are his fellow theatre folk, and invites them to perform the play at his rival theatre. Hearing of the performance, Viola escapes her wedding, and rushes to the theatre, arriving in time to play Juliet in front of a crowd of hundreds &#8212; including her new husband Wessex.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Why it matters:<\/h4>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shakespeare in Love<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, written by Tom Stoppard (yes, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tom Stoppard) and Marc Norman,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is usually celebrated for its sweeping love story that parallels Shakespeare\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Romeo and Juliet <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">script: two people in love who are divided by social conventions. However, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shakespeare in Love <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">warrants more credit in regards to its social commentary about gender equality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the years of Elizabethan theatre, women had been banned from the English stage since Medieval times. The Dark Ages were a time of vast illiteracy, and the Church needed something besides the written word to inform the populace about religion. They resorted to the \u201cMiracle Plays\u201d, stories of the Bible that taught audiences about Christianity. These touring shows were run solely by men, and women were not allowed to participate in productions &#8212; a woman\u2019s place was in the home, and if any woman were seen doing any activity deemed un-domestic, they were considered immoral and sinful. Women and girls were played by young men and boys. It was not until 1662, when King Charles II signed a decree that all female parts were required to be played by women, that women were legally allowed to perform onstage.<\/span><\/p>\n<span class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-2 hover-type-none\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kwY2lrYTorz_PWvPusNtea2sDGNUbwJH_640x360_54023235644.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"img-responsive\"\/><\/span><br><br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Viola is a girl who dreams of becoming something greater than her life of domesticity allows, but she is denied that dream on the basis of her gender. In addition to being restricted from becoming an actor, she is forced into an unwanted marriage with a hostile husband. These social conventions, however, place no damper on her refreshingly stubborn and driven personality. Her nurse (Imelda Staunton) also provides a trustworthy confidant despite having an obligation to Viola\u2019s conservative parents. She encourages Viola to pursue her acting dream and her relationship with Shakespeare, risking her job and reputation to do so. After Viola is outed as a woman after she\u2019d been playing a man for so long, the company of entirely men is sad to see her go. Even the Prologue player, Wabash (Mark Williams), regrets her departure, telling her through a strong stutter, \u201cYou&#8230;were wonderful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shakespeare in Love <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">uses Shakespeare\u2019s plots (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Twelfth Night<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) to<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">address gender inequality, plays in which women must dress as men in order to be taken seriously, trusted with important tasks, or protected from assault. As Rosalind says in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As You Like It<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cAlas, what danger will it be to us, \/ Maids as we are, to travel forth so far! \/ Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.\u201d Women must disguise themselves as men in order to reap the basic rights that are denied them. Additionally, even when they are skilled in their profession, especially when it is a male dominated one, they are still rebuked by those who uphold the belief that women should remain at home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Queen Elizabeth stands onstage after the performance and addresses the players, she summons Viola forward and calls her \u201cMaster Kent\u201d, the name that gave Viola agency and power in the theatre. She sums up her admiration and understanding of Viola\u2019s hardwon performance with a statement of solidarity, implying that her struggle is Viola\u2019s struggle, too: \u201cI do know something of a woman in a man\u2019s profession. Yes, by God, I do know about that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\">This film is the third\u00a0featured in Part V\u00a0of \u201cTheatre in Film\u201d. See below for the others in Part V.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-an-awfully-big-adventure-1995\/\"><strong><em>An\u00a0Awfully Big\u00a0Adventure\u00a0<\/em>(1995)<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-stage-fright-2014\/\"><strong>Theatre in Film Halloween Special\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<em>Stage Fright<\/em>\u00a0(2014)<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-waiting-for-guffman-1996\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em>Waiting for Guffman<\/em>\u00a0(1996)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Cradle Will Rock<\/em>\u00a0(1999)<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(Coming soon.)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Topsy Turvy<\/em>\u00a0(1999)<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(Coming soon.)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Want to start with\u00a0<strong>Part I<\/strong>? Begin with\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/mgs.performerstuff.com\/?p=133\">42nd Street\u00a0<\/a><\/em>(1933)<\/strong><\/span>.<br \/>\nMiss\u00a0<strong>Part II<\/strong>?\u00a0Check out\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-the-band-wagon-1953\/\"><strong><em>The Band Wagon<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<strong>(1953)<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\nNeed a refresh for\u00a0<strong>Part III<\/strong>? Start with\u00a0our feature on\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-all-that-jazz-1979\/\">All That Jazz\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/strong><strong>(1979)<\/strong><\/span>.<br \/>\nHow about a recap from\u00a0<strong>Part IV<\/strong>? Jump into\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-a-chorus-of-disapproval-1989\/\"><strong><em>A Chorus of Disapproval\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong>(1989)<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><hr \/>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>Ashleigh Gardner<\/strong>\u00a0received her AA in Theatre\/Drama\/Dramatic Arts\u00a0from Valencia College and\u00a0her Bachelors Degree in English Literature and\u00a0Masters Degree in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies from\u00a0the University of Central Florida. She is a playwright, an actor, and PerformerStuff.com\u2019s Editor.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Thumbnail image from <em>Shakespeare in Love<\/em>. Copyright\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0Miramax Films and Universal Pictures 1998.<\/h5>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [...]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[259,265,453],"tags":[6,106,425,424,80,63,105],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}