The Demystification of the Author and Metatheatre: Lee Hall’s Shakespeare in Love

Abstract

Lee Hall’s Shakespeare in Love, reworking Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman’s original film, delves into the themes of literary inspiration and authorship. Hall’s play represents Shakespeare as a impotent writer and lover, subverting the longstanding conception of Shakespeare as a cultural icon. Will, the demystified Shakespeare in Hall’s play, is depicted as a writer inspired by the more famous contemporary playwright Marlowe. Marlowe’s influence on Will, moreover, reflects Hall’s self-consciousness about his work being overshadowed by the accomplishments of Stoppard’s film. Hall’s effort to overcome his anxiety of influence vis-a-vis Stoppard results in a series of theatrical experiments. In the play, the making of Romeo and Juliet is completed by multiple voices and collaborative efforts that contribute to the composing and staging of Will’s play. Hall thus underscores the multiple facets of theatrical authorship that deconstruct the notion of an isolated genius. His play foregrounds in a unique metatheatrical frame the production of a play as a process. Hall’s dramaturgical attempt to differentiate his adaptation from the original film results in emphasizing the dynamics of performance. Hall demonstrates his own creativity by dramatizing the national bard demystified in the very process of collaborative work that ironically consolidates his immortality.