William Fakespeare
September 24, 2015 1:19 PM   Subscribe

If you want to read the latest work of Shakespeare, written and performed 200 years after his death, look no further! Vortigern, an historical play(sic) is it! Performed for the first time on April 2, 1796 it was not performed again until 2008, when the Pembrooke Players put on a revival. Why not?

Called the "most brazen" literary forger of all time, William Henry Ireland began forging the great bard in order to impress his jerk of a dad, book collector and Shakespeare fanatic Samuel Ireland. William Henry claimed to have found a series of documents in a friend's home that had been written by Shakespeare. He found everything from old deeds, a document forsaking Catholicism and finally, a forgotten play. Vortigern.

Obviously, this level of fraud was not sustainable, and as his father began to brag about all the Shakespeare documents- publishing Miscellaneous papers and legal instruments under the hand and seal of William Shakespeare - some skeptics began to raise their eyebrows.

One such skeptical, Edmond Malone, published a 400 page rebuttal. The show must go on, however, and Vortigern was still scheduled to go on stage.

What had been slated to be the greatest opening night in English theater history, the Drury Lane Theater audience was ready to be amazed- and they were even receptive at the beginning of the play. But the mood soon soured, with people laughing at dialogue meant to be serious. The play had to be stopped several times while order was restored in the audience.

It was too much- Samuel Ireland's reputation was tarnished beyond all repair as everyone believed he was behind the forgeries. Desperate, William Henry tried to take ownership of the fraud and forgeries. However, his father did not believe him, and the two remained estranged until Samuel's death.

But don't take my word for it- you can read it from William Henry's own perspective in his popular volume, Confessions of William Ireland.
posted by Torosaurus (9 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
I wrote a paper about this some years ago and, in the process, read Vortigern. Its easy to read it and think "how could anyone think this was Shakespeare?" However, modern humans have fallen for literary hoaxes just as brazen - perhaps there are even some we've fallen for that we've not debunked yet.

Anyhow, the play is barely mediocre on its own terms. Were it a genuine Shakespeare, it would rank somewhere below Two Noble Kinsmen but slightly above Timon of Athens - keeping in mind those are (in my opinion, of course) his two worst plays.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:38 PM on September 24, 2015


There may yet, be a play unseen....
posted by OHenryPacey at 2:32 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


There was a good layman book on the history of the Shakespeare authorship dispute a few years ago, called Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Really interesting stuff -- Shapiro goes into detail on the Irelands, among many others, and how as times change each generation creates a version of Shakespeare in its own image. I'd highly recommend anyone interested in the FPP to check it out.
posted by crazy with stars at 2:43 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


We have the original (this is actually a big deal, since William Henry forged his own forgeries in later years) manuscript of Vortigern and Rowena at my library. It's almost unreadable thanks to the "aging" techniques he used on it, but if any MeFites want to come see it, let me know.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:45 PM on September 24, 2015 [6 favorites]


It's almost unreadable thanks to the "aging" techniques he used on it, but if any MeFites want to come see it, let me know.

... at which point they will be shown a cunning imitation of it?
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:40 PM on September 24, 2015


I learned about this while reaearching the myth of Hengist and Horsa for my senior thesis. Sent me off on quite a tangent because I wanted to read the play and get the whole story on the fogery. Much more interesting than what I was supposed to be researching, never did get back on track. Can I blame the Irelands for not graduating in time?
posted by saffry at 7:54 PM on September 24, 2015


Were it a genuine Shakespeare, it would rank somewhere below Two Noble Kinsmen but slightly above Timon of Athens - keeping in mind those are (in my opinion, of course) his two worst plays.
What have you got against Fletcher and Middleton? ;)
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:13 AM on September 25, 2015


Vortigern, an historical play(sic)

Why sic?
posted by Chrysostom at 7:10 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Presumably it should be Vortigern, an ahistorical play.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 8:41 PM on September 26, 2015


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