“But that your lips were sacred, my lord/You would profane the holy name of love.”
As part of a list of plays deemed “Shakespearean apocrypha,” authorship of Edward III has been questioned for centuries. Shakespeare’s voice, as we have come to know it in his other works, cannot be heard throughout—nor was the play included in the First Folio of 1623. However, most modern scholars have concluded that the play was a collaborative effort between Shakespeare and one of his Elizabethan contemporaries, the most popular guess being Thomas Kyd (author of The Spanish Tragedy). Through this political history play we see Britain’s justification for the Hundred Years War and follow the autocratic Edward III as he defends England against the Scottish king while moving to claim the French throne. As Edward seeks to possess and conquer first a woman and then a country, oaths and honor are brought into question on both sides. Artistic Director Peter Garino directs.
A staged reading by professional actors from The Shakespeare Project of Chicago. An informative talk begins fifteen minutes before the performance, which is followed by a question-and-answer session with the director and cast. The Shakespeare Project was founded in 1993 and has performed at the Newberry Library since 2003.
Cosponsored by the Newberry Public Programs department.
Learn more about Center for Renaissance Studies programs.
This program is free and open to the public; no tickets or advanced registration is required.