Part irreverent bawdy comedy, part political thriller, this play explores life on the
Elizabethan stage and surmises on the mysterious events following Saturday 7th
February 1601 when Shakespeare’s company put on a single matinee production of
Richard II - a play concerning the overthrow of a monarch. The following day Queen
Elizabeth I imprisons her former favourite, the Earl of Essex, for leading a failed
rebellion against her. The queen’s fearsome agent, Francis Bacon, terrorises
Shakespeare, the players and Shakespeare’s ‘dark lady’ whilst conducting his
investigation into why the players chose to put on that play and discovers they were
paid a considerable bonus by the Earl of Essex. On the 25th Essex is executed.
Shortly after Will Kempe leaves London to become a writer in provincial exile, while
Shakespeare and his company move their theatre away from Shoreditch, timber by
timber, to establish The Globe on Bankside.
