Review by carol-morley

Made it through the first half hour, noting both the excellent ideas included by experienced actors and academic experts. Dates, filled-out careers of the early ("pre-Shakespearean") poets, variety of venues and successful plays, which could have provided a much clearer and richer context for Shakespeare's emerging success, are clumsily bodged in and worked around to the show's overall lack of credibility. Both Peele's Edward I and Greene's James IV need a nod before trying to imply that Shakespeare invented post-Armada English chronicle history crowd-pleasers out of thin air. Also, to show Marlowe's death as a back-alley mugging before cutting to a much better-informed speaker referring to contradictory, documented facts is farcical incompetence. I'll come back, in small doses, to hear what the expert contributors have to say, but I think fast-forwarding through the schlocky reenactments will be the way to go. Wasted opportunity to make the best of a fascinating subject.