PARIS — The adjective “lonely” was still a new addition to the English language when the hero of Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus likened himself to a “lonely dragon” in the early 1600s. Based on extant records, it was probably his second time that ‘Coriolanus’ was published. first time? In “Antonius” he translated in 1592 a French play by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke.
This tiny, almost trivial detail is one of many described in the 2006 book Sweet Swans of Avon: Did Women Write Shakespeare? by scholar Robin P. Williams. In both, Williams and Evan argue that a little-known Sydney, a highly educated and accomplished aristocrat, may have written Shakespeare’s canon.
This is a relatively new answer to the “author problem”, as long-running debates about author identity are known. Although most Shakespearean scholars still believe that William of Stratford-upon-his-Avon His Shakespeare was the principal author of works published under his name, there is suspicion that someone used him as a cover page. arose in his late eighteenth century.
Due to his humble origins and apparent lack of advanced education, the author of the play appeared to be familiar with many languages and aristocratic customs. known not to.
Bard worship takes place in theaters around the world, so it’s easy to question gaps in the historical record from Shakespeare’s time. When I attended ‘Mary Sidney, Alias Shakespeare’, I expected nothing more than a pleasantly quirky intellectual exercise.
But over two hours, on just two lecterns and a few projections, Evan, also a theater historian, presents a wide range of circumstantial evidence and potential counterarguments drawn from Williams’ Sweet Swan on Avon. did. With the vivid help of actress Fanny Zeller, I began to question my beliefs.
Here are some claims they offer. “Lonely” is one of several dozen words that Sidney introduced into the English language and was later used by Shakespeare. She sponsored Pembrokes Her Men, one of her early companies to stage plays later attributed to Shakespeare. Sydney’s vast library contains many of Shakespeare’s sources, and she was well versed in areas as diverse as falconry, alchemy, and cooking, the vocabulary Shakespeare drew upon.
Shakespeare’s First Folio was published some seven years after his death and is dedicated to Sidney’s sons William and Philip Herbert.
After the performance, the rest of the audience flocked to Evine, expressing shock that Sydney’s author was so rational as it suddenly sounded to them. So I concentrated on Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, Christopher Marlowe and Francis Bacon.
But as Evan convincingly stated onstage, Sydney had good reasons to hide her identity, unlike many other candidates. she was a woman. Sidney ran her influential literary salon, Wilton Her Circle, publishing translations and original poems, but it was not until the turn of the seventeenth century that she staged her own plays. was considered inappropriate. theme.
What if women actually wrote Shakespeare? Beyond whodunit — neither Williams nor Evine claim to have fully solved it — the implications are fascinating.
As several Parisian theaters prepared to open a season with Shakespeare, I began to wonder how the plays would be a different undertaking if they were named after a woman.
Suppose the famous French theater company, the Comédie Française, was performing Sydney’s King Lear instead of Shakespeare. It certainly would have flipped the interpretation of German director Thomas Ostermeyer. play essayOstermeyer said that Shakespeare’s works were “part of a thousand-year-old culture that ties expressions of power to the masculine” and that they should “against” Shakespeare to give greater “legitimacy” to female characters. (We still don’t know what this means. The press performance of “King Lear” was delayed due to Covid-19 protocols.)
What about Sidney as author of Lonely ‘Coriolanus’? At the Bastille Theater, hosting a tacky historical production by François Orsoni, the idea felt comical. This “Coriolanus” could not have conveyed his childish credentials so loosely. As the Roman leader at the center of the play, Alban Guillon, dressed in leather trousers or a tracksuit with gold chains, yells proudly to exhausted effect.
It combines two main female characters, Volumnia and Virgilia, played by Estelle Meyer with excess vampire energy. Pascal Taggnati uses a Johnny Depp-adjacent level parody as a pirate version of Volusia leader Aufidius, and the entire play looks like an advertisement for a racing car under the “Corioland” billboard. It is done.
Would this rendition have seen the light of day if it had been known that “Coriolanus” was Sidney’s production? You won’t believe it was written by a woman.
One of the prolific French writers of the 19th century knew the advantages of publishing under a masculine pseudonym. George Sand, real name Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin. She wrote multiple plays, but they are rarely performed today. Instead, this season, director Laurent Delbert has chosen to adapt her one of her novels, “Gabrielle,” into another setting of the comedy Her Française, Théâtre du Vieux Her Colombier. .
Delvert’s dark, stripped-down production is routine, complete with electronic sound effects that feel like a tic, but his return to Sand is welcome. Her central character here, Gabriel De Bramante, is a woman who was secretly raised as a man because of her genetics. Her grandfather can’t stand the idea of his title going to what he sees as the lesser worthy branch of his family.
Claire de La Rüe du Can brings a playful innocence and honesty to the character that Gabriel learned of the deception as an adult. While trying to reconcile with her relatives, she falls in love and begins living as a part-time woman, but she becomes overwhelmed by men’s irrational jealousy.
Sand’s style is precisely articulate as it examines how gender norms shape the experience of love and moral dilemmas. Shakespeare wasn’t so bad either. I’m not sure what some women really accomplished when they couldn’t fully express their talents, but Sidney and Sand found themselves no longer alone in their pursuits. It will be a satisfying stage company.
Mary Sidney, aka Shakespeare. Directed by Aurore Evan. Theater de l’Épée de Bois.
Coriolanus. Directed by Francois Orsoni. Bastille Theater until October 7th.
Gabriel. Directed by Laurent Delbert. Theater de Vieux Colombier until October 30th.