00:00 c.u.
spine of “Complete Works of Shakespeare”
Tilt
down from University of Nottingham sign to Prof. Hammond
Wide.
Prof. Hammond reading manuscript
c.u.
“Complete Works of Shakespeare”
Guide Voice: The Complete Works of
Shakespeare – well, perhaps not.
Professor Brean Hammond of the University of Nottingham in
England believes that there is probably at least one omission from
such a collection. Could this mean that there is a lost Shakespeare
play?
00:16 SOT: Professor Brean
Hammond, Head of School
of English, University of
Nottingham - “Yes there is!
It’s called “Double Falsehood” it was produced on
the 18th Century stage by one Lewis Theobald, or
Tibbald, who claimed that he had three manuscript copies of an
earlier play by Shakespeare. Now, quite independently of that, we
know that Shakespeare, in collaboration with John Fletcher, had
produced a play called Cardenio, or Cardenno, which was performed
in 1612 or 1613. The Double Falsehood, by Lewis Tibbald, appears to
be a version of that earlier play”.
00:55 Wide
– reconstructed Globe Theatre, London.
c.u.
Globe Theatre sign
Wide
of stage
Pan
across balconies
Tilt
down of “Don Quixote” book cover
c.u.
hands picking up book
Over
shoulder, Prof Hammond reading Don Quixote
Detail
from Ford Maddox Brown painting of Shakespeare
Opening
page of King Henry VIII
Detail
from the second antimasque dance in Francis Beaumont’s
The Masque of the Inner Temple and Grayes Inne
(British
Library) The morris dance in act 3 scene 5 of Two Noble Kinsmen is
closely related to this.
Pan
across stage and audience area, Globe theatre.
c.u.
“Humphrey Moseley” in book flyleaf
Wide
of Milton Poems Flyleaf – published by Humphrey Moseley
Guide Voice: Reference to a Shakespeare play,
probably written in collaboration with John Fletcher and called
Cardenna or Cardenno appears in the King’s
Treasurer’s accounts for 20 May and 8 June 1613, recording
payments to the actor John Heminges. This suggests that a play
based on the Cardenio story from Don Quixote was performed
twice at Court at the latter end of the 1612/13 theatrical
season.
In the latter part of his career Shakespeare collaborated with
Fletcher on two known plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble
Kinsmen. Confirmation that the lost Cardenio play was another
such collaboration can be found in the Stationers’ Register
for 9 September 1653 made by the bookseller/publisher Humphry
Mosely.
Among a list of playtexts recorded as Mosely’s own
property there’s a reference to “The History of
Cardenio, by Mr. Fletcher. & Shakespeare.”
01:50 SOT: Prof. Hammond
– “I’ve discovered some material in Oxford
that suggests that the Publisher Jacob Tonson bought the Humphrey
Mosely copyrights in 1718, so in 1718 something’s still
kicking around. In 1727 we get Lewis Tibbald presenting the play to
an unsuspecting public. The public’s impressed, the early
reception of the play is very positive; Lewis Tibbald is riding the
crest of a wave."
02:21 Advertising
flyer for “Double Falsehood”
Drury
Lane road sign
Exterior,
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Detail
from “Don Quixote” book cover showing title and
writer
Heading
page for Part IV “Don Quixote”
Detail
from text showing name of Cardenio (highlighted)
Wide
– front page of Double Falsehood text
c.u.
of text showing W. Shakespeare and L. Theobald
Wide,
front page and cast of characters
Wording
of Royal Licence
Guide Voice: Tibbald's Double Falsehood opened
at the DruryLaneTheatre on the 13th December 1727. This
was also based on the Cardenio story from Don Quixote and Tibbald
claimed it as a contemporary adaptation of a lost original by
William Shakespeare.
Though there are no independent records of the manuscripts he
claimed to have for the Shakespeare play, he clearly believed he
held a valuable property, going to the trouble of obtaining a Royal
licence. So why are so few people aware of this play?
02:50 SOT: Prof. Hammond
– “Its come to attention at various times. Scholars
have paid some attention to it in the 20th Century but I
think the prevailing view has perhaps been that this is a hoax or a
forgery. What, perhaps, is new is that we, along with the Arden
Shakespeare series, are regarding this and trying to show that it
is a genuine Shakespeare relic with bardic provenance, so we
haven’t dismissed it and we are looking to see what evidence
we can find for its authenticity”.
03:27 Wide,
Prof. Hammond reading text
c.u.
– Act 1 Scene 1 of Double Falsehood with Shakespearean text
highlighted.
Prof.
Hammond and books
Double
Falsehood flyer
c.u.
showing names
Guide Voice: Professor Hammond believes that,
although Double Falsehood is heavily adapted for its
18th century audience, there is language in the text
that predates this and shows evidence of being Shakespeare or
collaboration between Shakespeare and Fletcher. This, coupled with
the previous evidence leads him to believe that Double Falsehood
could well be the link to Shakespeare’s lost play. If so,
what has happened to Tibbald’s original manuscripts?
03:51 SOT: Prof. Hammond -
“There are newspaper reports which date from 1770 which
say that the manuscripts are quote “treasured up”
unquote, in the Covent Garden Theatre Museum. The Covent Garden
Theatre, an ancestor building of the present Royal Opera House, had
a library or museum where it kept valuable literary properties and
in 1770 it seems to be worth treasuring this up in that museum.
Regrettable however, in the year 1808 that particular Covent Garden
Theatre building burnt down.”
04:27 Exterior
– Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Detail
from frieze
c.u.
statue in recess
Wide
– Prof. Hammond reading text
c.u.
Prof. Hammond
So, do the last remnants of Shakespeare’s lost play lie in
the dust below the Royal Opera House? It would seem likely –
but then, Tibbald did claim to have three copies. Perhaps the other
two are still out there somewhere.
For Professor Brean Hammond, the hunt goes on.
04:45 END
