Shakespeare in Love Page #6

-50 pounds.

A very worthy sum on a very worthy question.

Can a play show us the very truth

and nature of love?

I bear witness to the wager...

and will be the judge of it

as occasion arises.

I have seen nothing

to settle it yet.

Are there no more fireworks?

They would be soothing after the

excitements of Lady Violas audience.

Have her, then,

but you are a lordly fool.

Shes been plucked since I saw her last,

and not by you.

It takes a woman to know it.

Marlowe.

Burbage?

Huh? Whos there?

Marlowe.

You are playing my Dr. Faustus this afternoon.

Dont spend yourself in sport.

-What do you want, Kit?

-My "Massacre at Paris" is complete.

-What? You have the last act?

-If you have the money.

-Tomorrow.

-Then tomorrow you shall have the pages.

Oh, will you desist, madam!

-Oh!

-20 pounds on delivery.

Now, what is money to men like us?

Besides, if I need a play, I have another

waiting... a comedy by Shakespeare.

Oh, "Romeo".

-Gave it to Henslowe.

-Never!

Well, Im to Deptford.

I leave you my respects, Miss Rosaline.

I gave Shakespeare

You did, but Ned Alleyn and the Admirals Men

have the playing of it at the "Rose".

Treachery!

Traitor and thief!

Oh, no.

No!

By my head, here comes the Capulets.

By my heel, I care not.

Follow me close.

I will speak with them.

Gentlemen, good-den!

A word with one of you.

Are you going to do it like that?

Positions.

-By my head, here comes the Capulets.

-By my heel, I care not.

Follow me close.

I will speak to them.

Gentlemen, good-den!

A word with one of you.

And but one word with one of us?

Couple it with something;

make it a word and a blow.

Wheres that thieving hack that

cant keep his pen in his own ink pot?

What is this rabble?

Draw, if you be a man!

Wonderful.

Wonderful!

And a dog.

No!

Have privy, players! Please!

Oh! Not with my props!

Oh!

-Will! What...

-A writers quarrel.

Quite normal.

Stay here.

You are hurt.

I dreamed last night

of a shipwreck.

-You were cast ashore in a far country.

-Oh, not yet. Not yet.

Hey, we need that

for the balcony scene.

My investment!

Lambert!

Vengeance!

A famous victory!

Kegs and legs open,

and on the house!

Oh, what happy hour.

-This is a tavern!

-It is also a tavern.

-I remember you. The poet!

-Yes, William the Conqueror.

One at a time.

One at a time.

Oh, hes a pretty one. Tell me

your story while I tickle your fancy.

-Its a house of ill repute.

-It is, Thomas, but of good reputation.

Come.

Theres no harm in a drink.

You are welcome to my best house.

Heres to the Admirals Men.

-The Admirals Men!

-The Admirals Men!

The Admirals Men!

Well, I... I quite liked it.

Master Kent...

you have not yet dipped your wick.

My wick?

Mr. Fennyman, because you love the theater,

you must have a part in my play.

I am writing an apothecary,

a small but vital role.

My heavens.

I thank you.

Whats the play about, then?

Well, theres this nurse...

Silence, silence, silence!

Master Shakespeare has asked me

to play the part of the apothecary.

The apothecary?

Will, what is this story?

Where is the shipwreck?

How does the comedy end?

-By God, I wish I knew.

-By God, if you do not, who does?

Let us have pirates,

clowns and a happy ending...

or we shall send you

back to Stratford to your wife.

Will! Mr. Henslowe! Gentlemen all!

A black day for us all!

There is news from a tavern in Deptford.

Marlowe is dead.

Stabbed.

Stabbed to death

in a tavern at Deptford.

What have I done?

He was the first man among us.

A great light has gone out.

Forgive me.

God forgive me.

...Our Lord

Jesus Christs sake.

~One morning in the month of May~

~From my cot I stray~

~Just at the dawning of the day~

~I met with a charming maid~

You look sad, my lady.

Let me take you riding.

-Its not my riding day, my lord.

-Bless me, I thought it was a horse.

Im going to church.

Of course. I understand.

It is to be expected.

Yes, it is to be expected...

on Sunday.

And on a day of mourning.

I never met the fellow

but once at your house.

Mourning?

Who is dead, my lord?

Oh! Dear God, I did not think

it would be me to tell you.

Great loss to playwriting

and to dancing.

My lady.

-He is dead?

-Killed last night in a tavern.

Come then.

Well say a prayer for his soul.

~Who can remember sorrow~

Spare me, dear ghost.

Spare me, for the love of Christ.

Spare me!

Will!

Oh, my love.

I thought you were dead.

It is worse.

Ive killed a man.

Marlowes touch

was in my "Titus Andronicus"...

and my "Henry 6th" was a house built

on his foundations.

You never spoke so well of him.

He was not dead before.

I would exchange all my plays to come

for all of his that will never come.

You lie.

You lie by this river

as you lied in my bed.

My love is no lie.

I have a wife, yes...

and I cannot marry the daughter

of Sir Robert De Lesseps.

You needed no wife come from Stratford

to tell you that...

and yet, you let me come to your bed.

Calf-love.

I loved the writer and gave up

the prize for a sonnet.

I was the more deceived.

Yes, you were deceived...

for I did not know

how much I loved you.

I love you, Will...

beyond poetry.

Oh, my love.

-You ran from me before.

-When I thought you dead, I did not care...

about all the plays

that would never come...

only that I would

never see your face.

I saw our end and it will come.

-You cannot marry Wessex.

-If not you, why not Wessex?

If not Wessex, the queen

will know the cause...

-and there will be no more Will Shakespeare.

-No. No.

But I will go to Wessex

as a widow from these vows...

as solemn as they

are unsanctified.

For killing Juliets

kinsman Tybalt...

the one who killed

Romeos friend Mercutio...

Romeo is banished. But the friar

who married Romeo and Juliet...

Is that me?

You, Edward. The friar who married

them gives Juliet a potion to drink.

It is a secret potion.

It makes us seeming dead.

She is placed in the tomb of the Capulets.

She will awake to life and love

when Romeo comes to her side again.

I have not said all.

By maligned fate, the message goes astray

which would tell Romeo of the friars plan.

He hears only that Juliet is dead.

-And thus he goes to the apothecary...

-Thats me.

...and buys a deadly poison.

He enters the tomb to say farewell

to Juliet...

who lies there cold as death.

He drinks the poison.

He dies by her side...

and then she wakes

and sees him dead.

And so Juliet takes his dagger...

and then kills herself.

Well, that will have them

rolling in the aisles.

Sad... and wonderful.

I have a blue velvet cap

thatll do well.

Ive seen just such a cap

on an apothecary. Just so.

Yes, it will serve.

But theres a scene missing.

Between marriage and death?

The play...

all written out for you.

I had the clerk at Bridewell do it.

He has a good fist for lettering.

There is a new scene.

Will you read in for me?

Wilt thou be gone?

Its not yet near day.

It was the nightingale, and not the lark...

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