The Vortigern Hoax
Melanie Sands
mementoes, such as
his testament from 1611, made on genuinely old parchment Ireland stole
from books and
documents, in which Shakespeare left goods to an "illegitimate son",
etc.
He also forged "original" manuscript pages from King Lear, leaving out
all the
"dirty" bits, which of course appealed greatly to some 18th century
purists
who "finally" found the "pure" and "innocent" Shakespeare they had
always
hoped to find, and had known all along that the bawdy bits had been
added on
later by less pure spirits.
Then he wrote the play "Vortigern" , in which Sarah Siddons was to
star.
She backed out at the last minute.
From Wikipedia:
Vortigern and Rowena
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to:navigation, search
Vortigern and Rowena, or Vortigern, an Historical Play is a play that
was touted as a newly-discovered work by William Shakespeare when it
first appeared in 1796. It was eventually revealed to be a Shakespeare
hoax, the product of prominent forger William Henry Ireland.[1] Its
first and only performance was April 2, 1796, when it was ridiculed by
the audience. Its titular protagonists, Vortigern and Rowena, are
figures from Britain's traditional history.
Contents
1
History
Ireland had produced several earlier documents he claimed represented
the writings of Shakespeare, but Vortigern and Rowena was the first
play he attempted. He shortly followed it with a forged Henry II. He
had announced his "discovery" of the lost play as early as December
26, 1794, but did not show his father a manuscript until March 1795.
He also provided a purported correspondence between Shakespeare and a
printer explaining why the play was unpublished, as well as a deed
accounting for how it came to be in hands of the Irelands.[2]
According to the deed, Shakespeare had willed all the manuscripts to
an ancestor of the Irelands, also named William Henry Ireland, who had
saved him from drowning. Years later, Ireland explained that he came
up with this story to establish his right to the manuscripts in case a
descendant of the bard might claim them.[3]
Hearing of a newly recovered "lost" Shakespeare play, Irish playwright
Richard Brinsley Sheridan purchased the rights to the first production
at Drury Lane Theatre in London for 300 pounds and the promise of half
the revenues to Ireland's family. After reading the play, Sheridan
noted its relative simplicity compared to Shakespeare's known works.
Actor John Philip Kemble, the manager of Drury Lane, and who would
play the title role in the play's only production, had serious doubts
about Vortigern's authenticity. Irish Shakespearean scholar Edmond
Malone published An Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain
Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments on March 21, 1796, about
the authenticity of Vortigern and the other documents "discovered" by
Ireland. The play did have its supporters; Henry James Pye and James
Bland Burgess wrote prologues for it, while Robert Merry wrote an
epilogue.[4]
When Vortigern and Rowena opened on April 2, 1796, Kemble used the
chance to hint at his opinion by repeating Vortigern's line "and when
this solemn mockery is o'er," and the play was derided by the
audience. It was never performed again. Some early critics accused
William Henry Ireland's father Samuel of the forgery, though William
assumed responsibility in two printed confessions. Samuel himself
continued to regard the play as authentic and edited it in 1799,
including a foreword in which he attacked Malone's findings and
denounced the "illiberal and injurious treatment" he had received.[4]
Nevertheless, neither Ireland's reputation recovered from the fiasco,
and William eventually moved to France, where he lived for several
decades. He tried to publish Vortigern and Rowena as his own work when
he returned to England in 1832, but met with little success.
[edit] Synopsis
The story begins as the King of the Britons Constantius offers half
his crown to his adviser Vortigern for his loyal service. Vortigern
immediately plots the king's murder in order to take the crown for
himself. Meanwhile, the court Fool warns two of Vortigern's children,
Pascentius and Flavia, of the bad times ahead and the three of them
leave the court with Flavia in drag. Constantius' sons Aurelius
(Aurelius Ambrosius) and Uter (Uther Pendragon), studying in Rome,
receive word of Vortigern's treachery and go to Scotland to raise an
army against their father's killer. In response Vortigern summons an
army of Saxons, led by Hengist and Horsus, to defend him from the
Scots. He falls in love with Hengist's beautiful daughter Rowena, and
proclaims her his queen, much to the chagrin of his wife Edmunda and
his two remaining sons, Wortimerus (Vortimer) and Catagrinus,
(Catigern), who flee. Vortigern's family eventually all join Aurelius
and Uter's army, and Aurelius and Flavia declare their mutual love. In
the end the Saxons are routed and Aurelius defeats Vortigern but
spares his life, and then marries Flavia. The final speech is
delivered by the Fool, who admits that the play is not very tragic, as
"none save bad do fall, which draws no tear".[4]
[edit] Sources
Like other apocryphal plays attributed to Shakespeare, The Birth of
Merlin and Locrine, Vortigern and Rowena takes the Matter of Britain
as its subject, drawing especially from Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia Regum Britanniae and Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle, the same
source used by Shakespeare.[1] Shakespeare used Britain's mythical
history in several of his plays, including King Lear and Cymbeline,
based on the stories of Leir of Britain and Cunobelinus, respectively.
The play is essentially a pastiche of Shakespeare, with Vortigern
serving as a Macbeth figure; other Shakespearean elements include the
use of Holinshead and Flavia's cross-dressing.[1]
[edit] Modern revival
The play experienced a comedic revival by the Pembroke Players at the
Pembroke College New Cellars, Cambridge, on November 19, 2008. The
production was directed by Pembroke third-year Alexander Whiscombe,
and starred David Harrap in the title role with Eystein Thanisch as
Aurelius.[5][6]