The Final Act of Mr Shakespeare
London 1613, and William Shakespeare returns from Stratford to the oppressive reign of King James. On visiting Sir Walter Raleigh in the Tower, he is “persuaded” to write a play about the reign of Henry VIII. Instead, Shakespeare decides that he will draft a true history of Henry VII, and after receiving some encrypted claims about the first Tudor king’s reign from one Stanyhurst, he is determined to include some incendiary and very dangerous passages about his demise and Henry VIII’s role in this. Shakespeare thus brings together for one final time the King’s Men, and they extemporise the outline of the play until it is ready for Shakespeare to finesse and write a final version. Most of the book is thus focused on the process of creating and developing the Henry VII play. This is a dangerous pursuit for all those involved, and indeed, there is much intrigue, deception suspected treachery and clandestine behaviour.
The basic historical context is sound with the main characters true, although the author freely admits to creating events and massaging others to develop the tale. And indeed, he does this spectacularly well. He digs into the very soul of Shakespeare to examine the man and his dramatic genius, as well as the setting of early 17th-century London. Winder also makes an impressive attempt at writing this new Henry VII play, most of it in capable and near authentic faux Shakespearean iambic pentameter lines, i.e. five feet beats.
