SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

UK/USA, 1998, 124 minutes, Colour.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Ben Affleck, Colin Firth, Simon Callow, Tom Wilkinson, Anthony Sher, Martin Clunes, Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter, Mark Williams, Rupert Everett.
Directed by John Madden.

One reviewer referred in derogatory tones to this Elizabethan romp as a pantomime. He was not wrong about the pantomime, but most will agree that he was wrong in being derogatory.

Written by Marc Norman and worked over in his verbally witty and literature-erudite way by Tom Stoppard, this is an invitation to travel back four hundred years, breathe the air and smell the odours of 1590's London and play, what if...?

Joseph Fiennes (who finds no difficulty in smouldering but is less persuasive laughing) is the right age for the 29 year old Will Shakespeare who as abandoned Anne Hathaway and family in Stratford and is vying with Kit Marlowe in triumphing at the Rose theatre, managed by the engagingly vacuous Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush). He has promised to write Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter. Meeting his romantically devoted fan, Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow with perfect English accent again), who so loves the theatre she disguises herself to take the role of Romeo, he falls in love and, with the complexities of plot (Nurses, angry brawlers, swordfights, avaricious parents, balconies) eventually writes Romeo and Juliet (and we the audience are treated to quite a deal of it in anticipation, in rehearsal and in final performance).

There is wit, contemporary parallels (a McDonald's joke, a Stratford souvenir joke and a 'follow that boat' and a playwright boatsman's joke). There is romance, farce, swordfights, scenes at Elizabeth's court and a great sense of life in Shakespeare's world. And, underlying it, some depth that Shakespeare would develop because of his love for Viola, his guilt at Marlowe's death and the rough and tumble of life in the rather grubby but lively days of Gloriana.

1. Popularity, acclaim, awards?

2. An entertaining work of the imagination combining history, pantomime, comedy, witty and literary theatrical allusions and farce?

3. The quality of the verbal humour? The modern parallels - the Stratford on Avon mug, the McDonald's joke, the boatmen and their parallels to contemporary cabbies etc? The patterning of Romeo and Juliet with the plot? The developments of Shakespeare's inspiration from his alleged life?

4. The world of Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, John Webster (and the jokes about the bloodthirsty young boy and his reporting the truth - and his hopes to be a playwright)? Henslowe and Burbage?

5. Elizabethan London and its re-creation, the look, the feel, the sounds - even the smells? The buildings, the streets, the lack of sanitation, ordinary people, royalty? The customs and feel of the time?

6. The world of the theatre: the writers and their trying to earn their living, trying to get loans and advances, contracts? The actors and their being employed and unemployed? The men and the exclusion of women? The stagehands? The work of rehearsals? The cast adjourning to the taverns? The rules of the theatre and the Master of the Revels? The audiences, the ordinary people, nobility? Their blending for the performance? Royal patronage?

7. The world of the court, Queen Elizabeth herself and Judi Dench's interpretation? The love of the theatre, her yawning and wanting comedy for Twelfth Night? The functions held at the court, dinners, balls? Arranged marriages and wealth, the Queen's approbation? The colonies in Virginia? (And the joke about Sir Walter Raleigh's cloak and the gentlemen being too late?)

8. Shakespeare at the age of 29, his achievement up till then, his moving from Stratford, his relationship with Anne Hathaway and his children? The nature of writer's block? His going to the fortune-teller, getting a charm, giving it to Rosaline? The plan for Romeo and Ethel? The work with Henslowe and Henslowe's incomprehension? The rivalry with Burbage? The friendship with Marlowe, the rivalry, sharing plotlines? The clashes amongst the theatre people? The constant need for money?

9. Shakespeare's inspiration from his life and experience? The film and its Romeo and Juliet framework? His being in love with Rosaline and her betraying him with Burbage? His seeing Viola? The dance (and her love for him and his poetry)? Her family and his reaction? Visiting the house, trying to get entry, the balcony sequences, the influence of the nurse? The brawls and the background to Mercutio and Ned Alleyn having the role? The literal brawls within the theatre and the clash with the Master of Revels' men? Themes of love and disguise? Viola and the promise of marriage to Wessex? The possibility and impossibility? Shakespeare and his writing, the rehearsals and his inspiration, the performance? The performance of the play, the stammering prologue speaker and his success? The audience moved, the protester cheering at the end? The initial silent response of the audience and the bewilderment, a success?

10. Shakespeare's character? Joseph Fiennes and his brooding and smouldering presence? Leaving Stratford, his age, wife, falling in love? With Viola and the romance, the escapades? Her response, his poems, the rehearsal and their killing? The Master of the Revels and his unmasking of her? The discussions with Marlowe, Wessex making a mistake and ordering the death of Marlowe? Shakespeare and his feelings of guilt about Marlowe's death? The background of writing, contracts, deals, egos? His pretending to be the nurse and going to court with Viola?

11. The separation, his desperation, her performing in the play? Letting her go, his writing Twelfth Night? Viola and Gwyneth Paltrow's screen presence (and English accent)? Her place within her family, newly rich? Wessex and his courting her? The plans for the wedding? Her going to the theatre and her love for Shakespeare's poetry? Her charm, the encounter with Shakespeare, the nurse? Her going for the audition as Thomas Kent? The comedy of her pretending to be an actor? Her fleeing home, the split-second timing with Wessex's visits? The dangers? The relationship with Shakespeare, in love, the night with him? Her being on the balcony, her speaking the Juliet lines? In the rehearsals, her being Romeo?

12. The court sequence, the plans for the wedding, Wessex and his demands? The Queen's approval? Her performing in the play, the Queen's approval, the Queen pretending that he was still Thomas Kent? Her marriage, her going away with Wessex - and the finale of her being stranded on a strange shore?

13. The theme of men and women on the Elizabethan stage? The men taking the women's roles? The irony of Viola and her performance? Themes of reality and disguise, male and female roles?

14. The rivalry with the theatres, the Rose and the Curtain? Henslowe and his being unwitting, everything a mystery? The comic turns?

15. The contrast with Burbage, his ego, relationship with Rosaline, the clash with Shakespeare? Turning on the Master of the Revels and their combining theatres?

16. Ned Alleyn and his ego, wanting the main part, interested in Mercutio, directing the play, his giving the name for it?

17. The Master of the Revels, his own promiscuity, his laying down of the law, closing the theatres? In the name of health, in the name of censorship? His being outwitted by Burbage? And the Queen?

18. The preacher and the demonstration against the plays, the Puritan criticism? His being swept into the theatre and his leading the applause?

19. The nurse, character, helping Viola, the parallels with the play?

20. Feniman and the money man, the satire on producers, his being tempted to invest, his becoming so involved, going to the rehearsals, getting the part of the apothecary, his constant rehearsals? His strong men? The tailor having to speak the prologue? The humour with the range of actors to be drawn on?

21. The audience drawn into the Elizabethan world, the world of imagination and delight? What if...?