Leigh – Rowlands

The Shakespeare Notebooks

Justin Richards
New York: HarperDesign, 2014

Doctor Who, the BBC’s time travelling alien from Gallifrey, has passed through the lives of countless people during his various regenerations. In the recently discovered Notebooks Shakespeare attempted to document the appearances of the “mysterious” Doctor in his life and in his writings. Compiled in 1599 after the events surrounding the loss of Love’s labour’s won, this “book of scraps” includes early drafts of many of his plays (among them an extensive group of unused scenes from Macbeth featuring the second Doctor and his companions Jaime and Zoe), new sonnets, and other material that reveal previously unknown ties between Shakespeare and the Doctor. The Notebooks show Shakespeare as a willing intellectual partner with the Doctor, using his fleeting brushes with the Doctor for ideas and characters (even if they were ultimately excluded). -TH

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2000's Leigh - Rowlands Not of an Age

The Shakespeare Code

Transmission script
Gareth Roberts
Dr. Who, series 3 episode 2, first aired 7 April 2007

Gareth Roberts had earlier given Shakespeare a small part in the Dr. Who Magazine comic strip (A Groatsworth of Wit, 2005), but in this television script, Shakespeare plays a major role as the author of the now lost play “Loves Labors Won.” The play is of particular interest to Illinois because we own a 1603 manuscript witness to the existence of this play. In Dr. Who, Shakespeare is struggling to complete this particular script. Under a witch’s spell, he finishes the play, and includes, unwittingly, a phrase that will open a portal for the return of the Carrionite witches. Dr. Who and companion Martha Jones save the day, of course, but not before Shakespeare flirts furiously with Martha, receives some literary advice from the Doctor, and has to improvise some magical lines of his own. Shakespeare is a charming, rakish, hard-working, fast-living, affable genius—and also serves as the Doctor’s foil for a lot of anachronistic wit. –TH

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2000's Leigh - Rowlands Not of an Age

Shakespeare Attended by Nature and the Passions

George Romney
Copperplate engraving by Benjamin Smith for The Boydell Shakespeare Prints
London: J. & J. Boydell, 1799

The birth of Shakespeare, as described in Thomas Gray’s Progress of Poesy (1757), was a favorite subject of Romney’s. “Nature unveils her face to her favorite Child” with Comedy and Tragedy on either side of him. To the right of Nature are Love, Hatred & Jealousy; on her left, Anger, Envy, and Fear.

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1700's Leigh - Rowlands Rare Talent

Mrs. Shakespeare

Avril Rowlands
Malvern: J. Garnet Miller, 2005

In this two-act play that unfolds in flashbacks after Shakespeare’s funeral, we discover that Anne was the brains behind the Shakespeare brand. Shakespeare himself appears as a failed author, rescued by his wife, who needed a frontman to produce her plays in London. Though he complains a bit, William does the household chores and cares for the children to give Anne the peace she needs to write. Similar conceits are found in at least a half-dozen recent plays and novels. –VH

2000's Greatness Thrust Upon Him Leigh - Rowlands