The Beard of Avon

The Beard of Avon
Poster for the 2007 production at Center Stage, Portland
Written by	Amy Freed
Date premiered	2001
Place premiered	South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California
Original language	English
Subject	Shakespeare and his wife become involved with the Earl of Oxford
Genre	Period piece; farce
Setting	Sixteenth century: Stratford-upon-Avon and London, England

The Beard of Avon is a play by Amy Freed, originally commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 2001. It is a farcical treatment of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, in which both Shakespeare and his wife become involved, in different ways, with secret playwright Edward de Vere and find themselves helping to present the works of several other secretive authors under Shakespeare's name, including Queen Elizabeth I herself.

Sources: Student Guide, Goodman TheatreScript

Members of Queen Elizabeth’s court:

Additional members of Heminge’s company

The play premiered at the South Coast Repertory Theater in June 2001, and went on to productions in Salt Lake City and the Seattle Repertory Theatre in November to December 2001.

It opened at the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, in January 2002. Freed noted: "There's something about it that has the attractiveness of a good mystery.... You just can't leave it alone." The play was presented at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, from October 7, 2002 to November 2, 2002, directed by Resident Director David Petrarca.

The play opened Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on November 18, 2003 and closed on December 21, 2003. Directed by Doug Hughes, the cast featured Tim Blake Nelson as Will Shakspere [sic], Mary Louise Wilson as Queen Elizabeth, Kate Jennings Grant as wife Anne Hathaway and Mark Harelik as Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford (Harelik was in the South Coast Rep production also). The play was nominated for the 2004 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play, and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Mary Louise Wilson.

The play is described by critic Robert Brustein as a "lusty antidote to all forms of Bardolatry, including the perverse and benighted kind that considers the bard a beard". He describes it as "an extended satiric sketch worthy of Monty Python", but suggests that some of the comic faux-Elizabethan language "fails to pass the test of grammar or scansion". Katherine Scheil emphasises its bawdy aspects, as Anne discovers Will's seedy sex-life, unleashing her own desire to explore "wild and stormy expanses of uncharted filth". According to James Fisher, Freed demonstrates her own affinity with Shakespeare: