A Waste of Shame
Encyclopedia
- For the novel, see A Waste of Shame (novel).
A Waste of Shame (aka A Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets) is a 90-minute television drama on the circumstances surrounding William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's composition of his sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets are 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted. Sonnets 138 and 144...
. It takes its title from the first line of Sonnet 129
Sonnet 129
-Analysis:This Sonnet convinces the reader into disliking the pursuit of sex. The first twelve lines of the poem all add to the first: “The expense of spirit in a waste of shame”. The second verse places a frame around the first “Is lust in action; and till action, lust”...
. It was first broadcast on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
on 22 November 2005 as part of the supporting programming for the BBC's ShakespeaRe-Told
ShakespeaRe-Told
ShakespeaRe-Told is the umbrella title for a series of four television adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays broadcast on BBC One during November 2005. In a similar manner to the 2003 production of The Canterbury Tales, each play is adapted by a different writer, and relocated to the present day...
season.
Its screenplay was written by William Boyd
William Boyd (writer)
William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
and the film was directed by John McKay
John McKay (director)
John McKay is a Scottish film and television director. His initial career was as a playwright, before he began his film career by directing the short films Doom and Gloom and Wet and Dry ....
. Lines from the sonnets are presented as thoughts running through Shakespeare's mind.
Plot
1609: Shakespeare is struggling to complete his sonnets while plague rages. He sees the body of a young child and remembers the moment in 1596 when he learned of the illness of his son HamnetHamnet Shakespeare
Hamnet Shakespeare was the only son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, and the fraternal twin of Judith Shakespeare. He died at age 11 of unknown causes. There are several theories on the relationship, if any, between Hamnet and his father's later play Hamlet...
while rehearsing a play in London. Returning to Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
he was subjected to abuse from his shrewish wife Anne
Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)
Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. They were married in 1582. She outlived her husband by seven years...
for neglecting them by living in the capital. His son died, and an embarrassing argument between his father John
John Shakespeare
John Shakespeare was the father of William Shakespeare. He was the son of Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield, a farmer. He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon and married Mary Arden, with whom he had eight children, five of whom survived into adulthood...
and Anne disrupted the funeral. John later told him that the family was in financial difficulties. William agreed to pay off the debt, but to do so he had to return to London.
1597: Shakespeare receives a bag of money from Mary Sidney
Mary Sidney
Mary Herbert , Countess of Pembroke , was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, poetic translations and literary patronage.-Family:...
, Countess of Pembroke, for writing the procreation sonnets
Procreation sonnets
The term procreation sonnets is a name given to Shakespearean sonnets numbers I to XVII .They are referred to as the procreation sonnets because they all argue that the young man to whom they are addressed should marry and father children, hence procreate...
, to encourage her son, the young William Herbert
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, KG, PC was the son of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and his third wife Mary Sidney. Chancellor of the University of Oxford, he founded Pembroke College, Oxford with King James. He was warden of the Forest of Dean, and constable of St Briavels from 1608...
to marry. He meets the young aristocrat and becomes strangely attracted to him. Herbert says that he will meet Shakespeare again when he comes to London.
Disturbed by his attraction to the youth, Shakespeare gets drunk in a brothel run by his friend George Wilkins
George Wilkins
George Wilkins was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with Shakespeare on the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently involved in criminal activities.-Life:Wilkins was an inn-keeper in Cow-Cross,...
. Wilkins tempts him with a new dusky-skinned "half caste" called Lucie, just come from France. Shakespeare has sex with her.
At a performance of Hamlet, Herbert and his young friends meet up with Shakespeare. They are keen to experience the seedy side of London life, so Shakespeare takes them to Wilkins' brothel. There they enjoy the pleasures on offer but Herbert is shocked to see Wilkins help some men to beat up one of the girls. Shakespeare tells him to ignore it and that the girl is being punished for giving a client syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
.
Shakespeare becomes increasingly close to Herbert and entranced by him, but discovers that his rival Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
is now one of Herbert's cronies. He also becomes more deeply involved with Lucie. Lucie tells him that she is leaving Wilkins. She now has her own place paid for by another client. She tells him that she likes him best. Later, he visits Herbert's house, but is brushed off by a servant. He realises that Herbert is avoiding him. He follows him and discovers that Lucie has become Herbert's mistress, and that he pays for her lodging. Embittered, he writes Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
.
He meets Herbert again at a performance of the play. He learns that Lucie has gone back to France. The two part awkwardly.
A new outbreak of plague leads to the closure of the theatres. Shakespeare, Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage was an English actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama....
and William Kempe
William Kempe
William Kempe , also spelt Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specializing in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare...
discuss the options for their acting troupe. However, Shakespeare starts to notice worrying signs of illness on his body. He returns to Stratford to get a diagnosis from John Hall
John Hall (physician)
John Hall was a physician and son-in-law of William Shakespeare.-Life:He was born at Carlton, Bedfordshire and studied at Queens' College, Cambridge from 1589, receiving a B.A. in 1593 and a M.A. in 1597...
and is told that he does not have the plague, but he does have syphilis. He writes up his sonnets for publication.
Cast
- Rupert GravesRupert GravesRupert Graves is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as DI Lestrade in the critically acclaimed television series Sherlock.-Early life:...
- William Shakespeare - Tom SturridgeTom SturridgeThomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
- William HerbertWilliam Herbert, 3rd Earl of PembrokeWilliam Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, KG, PC was the son of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and his third wife Mary Sidney. Chancellor of the University of Oxford, he founded Pembroke College, Oxford with King James. He was warden of the Forest of Dean, and constable of St Briavels from 1608...
("the Fair Youth") - Indira VarmaIndira VarmaIndira Varma is an English actress. Her first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series Rome and Human Target.-Early life and background:...
- Lucie ("the Dark Lady") - Zoë WanamakerZoe WanamakerZoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
- Countess of PembrokeMary SidneyMary Herbert , Countess of Pembroke , was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, poetic translations and literary patronage.-Family:... - Anna ChancellorAnna Chancellor-Family:Chancellor was born in Richmond, London, England, the daughter of the Hon. Mary Alice Jolliffe and John Paget Chancellor. Through her mother's mother, Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith, Chancellor is the great-granddaughter of The Hon. Raymond Aquith and the great-great-granddaughter of Prime...
- Anne HathawayAnne Hathaway (Shakespeare)Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. They were married in 1582. She outlived her husband by seven years... - Andrew TiernanAndrew TiernanAndrew James Tiernan is an English actor.-Theatre:Tiernan began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre and moved to London in 1984 to study a three-year Diploma in Acting at the Drama Centre London run by Christopher Fettes and Yat Malmgren...
- Ben JonsonBen JonsonBenjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems... - Nicky HensonNicky HensonNicholas Victor Leslie "Nicky" Henson is an English actor who has portrayed many roles since 1963. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977. He was born in London.-Early life:...
- John ShakespeareJohn ShakespeareJohn Shakespeare was the father of William Shakespeare. He was the son of Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield, a farmer. He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon and married Mary Arden, with whom he had eight children, five of whom survived into adulthood... - Alan WilliamsAlan Williams (disambiguation)Alan Williams is a Welsh politician.Alan Williams may also refer to:*Alan Williams , Australian rules footballer*Alan Williams , English footballer...
- George WilkinsGeorge WilkinsGeorge Wilkins was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with Shakespeare on the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently involved in criminal activities.-Life:Wilkins was an inn-keeper in Cow-Cross,... - Nicholas RoweNicholas Rowe (actor)Nicholas James Sebastian Rowe is a Scottish actor.-Biography:Rowe was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of English parents Alison, a singer, and Andrew Rowe, a Member of Parliament and editor. He attended Eton and received a BA in Hispanic Studies from Bristol University...
- Richard BurbageRichard BurbageRichard Burbage was an English actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama.... - John VoceJohn VoceJohn Voce is an English actor. He has portrayed William Kempe in the period drama A Waste of Shame and the recurring character Tim Parker in Primeval . He has also appeared in the 2001 film Crush and the 2008 film Penelope...
- William KempeWilliam KempeWilliam Kempe , also spelt Kemp, was an English actor and dancer specializing in comic roles and best known for having been one of the original players in early dramas by William Shakespeare... - Tom HiddlestonTom HiddlestonThomas William "Tom" Hiddleston is an English actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Loki in the 2011 Marvel Studios film Thor.-Early life and education:...
- John HallJohn Hall (physician)John Hall was a physician and son-in-law of William Shakespeare.-Life:He was born at Carlton, Bedfordshire and studied at Queens' College, Cambridge from 1589, receiving a B.A. in 1593 and a M.A. in 1597... - Christopher FairbankChristopher FairbankChristopher Fairbank is an English actor best known for his role as Albert Arthur Moxey in the hit comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.-Career:...
- Physician - Ian Hughes - Thomas ThorpeThomas ThorpeThomas Thorpe was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial...
- Clem Tibber - Hamnet ShakespeareHamnet ShakespeareHamnet Shakespeare was the only son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, and the fraternal twin of Judith Shakespeare. He died at age 11 of unknown causes. There are several theories on the relationship, if any, between Hamnet and his father's later play Hamlet...
- Tom MisonTom MisonTom Mison is an English actor. He trained at the Webber-Douglas Academy.His theatre credits include 2009's When the Rain Stops Falling at the Almeida Theatre and Posh by Laura Wade at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010....
- Young Blood