The Shakespeare Code

I first met Stewart in 1985 and was fortunate enough to be in his production of ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter.  To this day I feel that it is a privilege to have been part of this amazing production and to have worked with someone whose understanding of and instinct for Shakespeare is, in my opinion, unmatched in our profession.

Over the last 25 years I have been party to and fascinated by Stewart’s unravelling of Shakespeare through rigorous analysis of his texts and other historic documents.  Each discovery he makes is a source of excitement and seems to provide another piece of the complex puzzle of Shakespeare’s life.  My own perception of Shakespeare has changed during this time as a result of my discussions with Stewart.  My school girl’s unquestioning reverence for him has been replaced by admiration for his ability to stay alive during such dangerous times, especially as a catholic, and for his brave and sometimes outrageous political reflections in his plays.  I have learnt that his plays are highly derivative and lacking in originality, but that there are two qualities that make him unique and to be highly valued.  First his unquestionable gift of poetry, and secondly his extraordinary understanding of the human condition.  It is this second insight that makes his plays so timeless and so applicable even in today’s world.  I was delighted to see a short rendition of ‘Twelfth Night’ in an episode of the TV series ‘Skins’ (and you can’t get much more contemporary than that) the other evening, in which the love triangle on stage was playing out a similar triangle in the lives of the teenagers who were acting in it.

Stewart is relentless in his research and determination to paint a fuller picture of Shakespeare’s life and the context in which he wrote his poetry and plays.  There is no conjecture in his work – everything is supported by Shakespeare’s own texts or other documents from the period.  His conclusions may not tally with the conventional academic line on Shakespeare, (which frankly is a bit woolly and full of ‘we don’t know much about his life…..) but they are a lot more interesting – and he has shown that actually if we look hard enough we do know quite a lot about his life.  I think his version of ‘Shakespeare in Love’ would be well worth watching, should he choose to go down that route!

The Shakespeare Code thanks Karen Gledhill (who has brilliantly adaptated Shakespeare’s plays for performance, with songs, by children in schools) for her kind comments.

MISS GLEDHILL, AS WELL AS BEING A CAMBRIDGE CLASSICIST, HAS THE DISTINCTION OF HAVING PLAYED THE ROLE OF A SCIENTIST  IN THE CLASSIC ‘DR. WHO’ EPISODE WHEN THE DALEKS FIRST LEARNT TO WALK UP STAIRS!

Miss Gledhill’s name has been inscribed in The Shakespeare Code’s ROLL OF HONOUR.

On the 16th July, 2011, she was created the second Fellow of the Shakespeare Code.

IN VINCULIS INVICTUS!