Our Belief is that Christopher Marlowe––in his day
England's greatest playwright––did not die in 1593
but survived to write most of what is now assumed
to be the work of William Shakespeare.
Our Plan is to present accurate information and
well-reasoned argument related to this belief.
Our Aim is to have this theory accepted by
Shakespearean scholars and others as the only
plausible alternative to the traditional "Stratfordian"
position.
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2011
Doubters Rebut Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust's Attack
On the first of September there appeared in The Stage magazine an announcement from the
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust that it was launching a campaign "to debunk the conspiracy
theories surrounding the authorship of Shakespeare's works." It was of course timed to be
up and running before the release of Roland Emmerich's film Anonymous on 28 October.
The campaign began that day with a new website, 60 Minutes with Shakespeare, featuring
an impressive collection of actors, writers and scholars, whose photographs and credentials
are laid out before us on the home page. "Was Shakespeare a Fraud?" it asks, "Sixty
questions, sixty scholars, sixty seconds each." To find out just what question each of them
was asked and to hear an audio recording of their answer you must "sign up" with your name
and email address. It is then also possible to obtain a transcript of the response in each case.
This hurdle makes it fairly clear that the main intent is for the majority of people not to bother
with the actual details on offer, but to be so impressed with the array of "experts" - all
(except Roland Emmerich) apparently on the side of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in this
matter - that they will simply assume not only that these people must be right, but that those
who suggest that Shakespeare was a "fraud" must be wrong.
That the Birthplace Trust has gone so public in this way, however, gives those who doubt the
Shakespeare authorship an unprecedented opportunity to respond. Within a week, therefore,
the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition began in relative secrecy to coordinate a response by
representatives of most of the main authorship organizations, including the International
Marlowe-Shakespeare Society, giving a definitive rebuttal for each of the "60 Minutes." We
have provided responses for the items (by Antony Sher and Charles Nicholl) specifically
attacking the Marlovian theory, and have had the opportunity to make comments on
everything else that's been submitted, most of which have been acted upon.
The result of this collaboration is a report entitled Exposing an Industry in Denial, the purpose
of which is to present those rebuttals, and to challenge the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to
write a single definitive declaration of the reasons why they claim that there is no room for
doubt about the identity of the author of the plays and poems of William Shakespeare.
Given the differences between the beliefs of the various organizations taking part, it was
inevitable that not all members of the group would be able to go along with everything written
by the others, but in the event such differences are really quite surprisingly few. There is
indeed far more in it to be praised than to be pardoned, and we heartily commend it to
everyone's attention. It can be found here.
© The International Marlowe-Shakespeare Society, 2011
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Read More
The Story
Click here to read a summary of the
Marlovian theory.
Who was Christopher
Marlowe?
Click here to read about Marlowe's life
and work.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What do Shakespeare
scholars say about Marlowe?
Click here to read opinions about
Marlowe's influence in the Shakespeare
plays
Is there a problem with
Shakespeare?
Click here to learn why we at the
IMSS are skeptical that Shakespeare
was a writer.
Think the idea of a faked
death is unusual?
Click here to find out how common it
actually is.