In Episode #7, Will is still struggling to come up with ideas for his plays. Things come to a head when the young street urchin Presto sets a fire to The Theater that results in the loss of the costumes and brings James Burbage closer to debtors' prison and foreclosure on The Theater.
The episode's title ("What Dreams May Come") relates to the salvation of the theater, which is the play Will composes for Lord Fortesque. If Isabetta enjoys the private performance and accepts Fortesque's wedding proposal, the wealthy aristocrat will provide the funding to save the Burbage theater company. The result is Shakespeare's comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The program stumbles badly on the proposition that Shakespeare was constantly seeking patronage when the evidence suggests that he was a leader and patron of the arts himself. The true circumstances of the first known production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were indeed a performance in an aristocratic household, as depicted in this program.
But the filmmakers fail to recognize that the author was writing the play for friends and family, not for a patron. Sources such as Celtic mythology or Ovid's "Metamorphoses" are ignored by the screenwriter. Instead, the lady Emilia Bassano is fancifully depicted as urging Will to write about the themes dream and illusion, then taking on the role of Titania herself. The filmmakers deserve some credit for a clever moment in which the fourth wall is broken when Lord Fortesque speaks Puck's line "Give me your hand" to Isabetta. But the main impetus of writing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (financial urgency and the ideas generated by Emilia Bassano) are both implausible and incomprehensible.
Overall, the program does not offer a convincing scenario for Will as a man of the theater. It was also a stretch to believe that Alice Burbage would visit one of Southwell's religious gatherings, risking her life to witness his baptism of a baby. Kit Marlowe's experiments with black magic, leading to his idea for "Doctor Faustus" were also far-fetched. The character of the zealot Topcliffe continued to be over-the-top in his pursuit of heretics. These are all important issues to explore. But in each case, the filmmakers are guilty of over-reach in an over-the-top approach to theater history.
It is clear from this program that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was not intended for production in the public theater of London. So, how many of Shakespeare's other plays were also written for the aristocracy?
The episode's title ("What Dreams May Come") relates to the salvation of the theater, which is the play Will composes for Lord Fortesque. If Isabetta enjoys the private performance and accepts Fortesque's wedding proposal, the wealthy aristocrat will provide the funding to save the Burbage theater company. The result is Shakespeare's comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The program stumbles badly on the proposition that Shakespeare was constantly seeking patronage when the evidence suggests that he was a leader and patron of the arts himself. The true circumstances of the first known production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were indeed a performance in an aristocratic household, as depicted in this program.
But the filmmakers fail to recognize that the author was writing the play for friends and family, not for a patron. Sources such as Celtic mythology or Ovid's "Metamorphoses" are ignored by the screenwriter. Instead, the lady Emilia Bassano is fancifully depicted as urging Will to write about the themes dream and illusion, then taking on the role of Titania herself. The filmmakers deserve some credit for a clever moment in which the fourth wall is broken when Lord Fortesque speaks Puck's line "Give me your hand" to Isabetta. But the main impetus of writing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (financial urgency and the ideas generated by Emilia Bassano) are both implausible and incomprehensible.
Overall, the program does not offer a convincing scenario for Will as a man of the theater. It was also a stretch to believe that Alice Burbage would visit one of Southwell's religious gatherings, risking her life to witness his baptism of a baby. Kit Marlowe's experiments with black magic, leading to his idea for "Doctor Faustus" were also far-fetched. The character of the zealot Topcliffe continued to be over-the-top in his pursuit of heretics. These are all important issues to explore. But in each case, the filmmakers are guilty of over-reach in an over-the-top approach to theater history.
It is clear from this program that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was not intended for production in the public theater of London. So, how many of Shakespeare's other plays were also written for the aristocracy?