Will (2017): Season 1, Episode 4 - Brave New World - full transcript

_
- I will write

the greatest plays this
world has ever seen.

- What the hell has gotten into you?
- It is a work day, Thomas.

Write a damn play!

I came to London to write.

[Whispers] For God.

- You do the Devil's bidding!
- Leave him! Stop him!

How may I speak with Father Southwell?

Evil times allow evil men like Topcliffe
to flourish. [Dog barking]

I'm working on an enterprise
of great import.

This is my entreaty
to Her Majesty. Keep it safe.



The hard part is finding the hero

- and the quest and the setting.
- Steal them.

- ...difficult week.
- Stop that girl!

[Laughs]

Did she, um, react to my, um, interest?

[Door creaks]

[Breathing heavily]

[Crowd cheering loudly]

_

[Crowd chanting]

[Indistinct conversations]

[David Bowie's "Fame" playing]

[Chanting continues]

[Crowd cheering loudly]



♪♪

[Loud cheering]

- Ah, a moment if you will, Will.
- You saw my play?

Aye. And I never saw a dog cause
so much merriment. [Chuckles]

But I thought little of those
two sighing lack-galls.

- You didn't like the lovers?
- You've met my son, Owen.

I've known old women less tedious.

Baby.

[Speaks indistinctly]

[Cheering loudly]

[Loud cheering continues]

[Whistling]

♪♪

[Loud cheering continues]

[Cheering continues]

Mmm. Mmm.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

Meet me in hell?

And I'll take you to heaven.

[Chuckles]

[Door opens] One hit, and he thinks
himself the new Marlowe.

Longevity. That's what you need
in this business.

We're the toast of London!

- [Cheering]
- Oh, spare a few shillings

while the sun shines on you,
Master William?

I'm momentarily short.

The sparkling fairy's knob
in your ear would say otherwise.

Will...

tell me more about this
fat knight you're writing me.

Ah, it's a wondrous part.

He gets more greatness,

and I'm stuck
with the limp-dicked lover.

Valentine is a very fine role.

- For the likes of Autolycus, perhaps.
- Thanks, Richard.

Willy Shakeshaft rises
while Big Dick falls.

I have a new role to sear thee
into the minds of the masses.

- What is it?
- Ah...

Weekly plague deaths!
Weekly plague deaths!

Ooh! Ooh! How many?

- Weekly plague deaths!
- I bet 24.

- I bet 28.
- I bet 20.

- Weekly plague deaths!
- Damn it! Only 16.

- Ha ha!
- [Man groans]

- 16 poxy deaduns. Pay up, losers!
- [Men shout indistinctly]

Will? I need to...

[Indistinct conversations]

[Footsteps descending]

[Trapdoor creaks, closes]

[Panting]

Are the lovers tedious?

What?

Not us. In the play.

- [Kisses]
- Oh, they're fine.

Fine? "Except I be by Silvia
in the night",

"there is no music in the nightingale.

"Unless I look on Silvia in the day,

"there is no day for me to look upon.

She is my essence."

I wrote that for you.

That bit's good.

[Breathing heavily]

Now shut up and swive me.

[Both moaning]

- Shh, shh.
- [Moans loudly]

Shh. Shh.

[Moaning in distance]

[Indistinct conversations in distance]

Imagine the thrill
of standing on this stage,

cheered by thousands.

I was hoping to see Alice.

She must have run an errand.

I have a gift for her,
a book of poetry.

Outlandish, I know,
to put poetry into a...

- [Book slams shut loudly]
- ...a book.

But I'm told it's all the fashion.

Do you think she'll like it?

Oh, she'll be ecstatic.

[Muffled moaning]

What in God's name was that?

[Loud moan]

Ah... they're just the, eh...

- [Heavy footsteps]
- ...old bones of the theatre creaking.

I recall now that Alice is
out collecting alms

for the feast of St. Mark.

Perhaps we might visit...
tomorrow?

Lunch? Mother will be delighted.

Alice will be thrilled.
[Chuckles]

You should warn that girl
against giving herself too freely.

- She'll be worn thin.
- Yeah.

[Chuckles]

[Trapdoor creaking]

What are you doing?

Ah, looking for inspiration.

In hell?

By examining the inner workings
of the stage, I hope to...

access my own... machinery.

[Indistinct conversations]

[Alice laughs]

Mr. Cotton saw the play.

Alice was telling me how the two
of you worked on it together.

She's an excellent copyist.

I have a good hand.
Nothing more.

The ideas are all
Master Shakespeare's.

Your mother's looking for you.

Quickly. It seemed urgent.

I will go, Mr. Cotton. It seems
I have outstayed my welcome.

Not possible, Madam.

I was going to ask how the lust goes,

but my question is answered.

It burns hot as hell.

I know not of what you speak.

Thou art arright, cousin.
Lust is no laughing matter.

Walk with me.

Matthew, how wonderful to share

my other passion with you...
the art of angling.

One must be perfectly still.

You feel the twitch in the line.

Murmur, "God save the Queen,"

then strike like the Devil himself.

Feel it.
God save the Queen.

[Mathew gasping]

[Exhales sharply]

Where is Robert Southwell?

Somewhere safe, I pray.

- [Squish]
- Help! Help!

Aah! [Whimpering]

- Your god's magic is a fiction.
- [Whimpering]

Aah! [Whimpering]

I am a fisherman

and also a fisher of men.

And soon, I will hook

the traitorous, murderous Southwell.

♪♪

God save the Queen.

[Grunts]

[Screams]

If ye be needed elsewhere, madam,
we'll do just as well without you.

If that were true, we wouldn't be
missing our most expensive gown.

I'd part with me right hand to
know what became of that dress.

You'll part with a lot more
if another one goes missing.

[Sighs] You need help?

Where were you?

I went for some air.

We are dining with Keenan
and his mother tomorrow.

- Oh.
- Don't look at me like that.

- [Scoffs]
- He's a very nice man. And rich.

And you are merely
a player's daughter.

Thank you, Mother.

And despite our momentary success,
this theatre barely survives.

A match with Keenan
would secure all our futures.

And I must be
the sacrificial lamb. Hmm?

One luncheon.
Is that too much to ask?

- You embarrassed me today.
- I'll think on it.

Alice.

I'll think on it.

[Descending footsteps]

- [Rooster crows in distance]
- I see by your appurtenances

that you're a lover
of your own swelling legend.

Ah... my name is now
somewhat known,

amongst lovers of theatre.

You've read my manuscript?

I have.

[Rooster continues crowing]

I've not read it.

My every moment is stolen by my play.

The violence and torture grow daily.

How many more innocents
like Baxter must die

before you apprehend the urgency
of our cause?

I apprehend all too well.

To work with you would bring
danger to others.

Alice.

And her family,

and all those in the theatre
who have given me a home.

Your play was a very fine comedy.

Thank you.

Your writing speaks to the common man.

Use it for peace.

Until we have that, all are in danger.

[Clicking]

I have written to the Pope himself,

and I'm expecting word at any moment
that he has approved our plan

to deliver my manuscript to the Queen.

It must be perfect.

It must penetrate her soul,

like a bullet shot from
the deadly level of a gun.

[Gunshot]

[Clank]

[Horse whinnies, dog barks]

Together, we could write such a work.

Read the manuscript,

then come to 15 Silver Street
tomorrow, ready to work.

We will bring an end to terror
and bloodshed in England.

You have hit your mark.

♪♪

[Dog barking in distance]

♪♪

"In humble supplication
to Her Majesty,"

"most mighty and most faithful,

"most feared
and best beloved..."

A good fisherman

only takes what he needs,
Mathew.

Give me the information I seek,

and I shall release you.

With hold it,
and I shall pluck it out...

bone by bone.

♪♪

[Sighs]

[Muttering]

[Quill scratching]

[Whispering]
...Catholics, Protestants alike

should now exist...

in harmony of society.

Ugh.

[Quill scratches]

Shit.

[Sighs]

And do you still believe that?

You are quite insane,
Will Shakespeare.

I'll take you to heaven.

♪♪

"Alice...

"my love is as a fever,

"longing still,

for that which longer nurseth
the disease."

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[Indistinct conversations]

You've been avoiding me.

I was just on my way out.

All of us are on the way out,
but only some of us get to be in.

Come with me.
We're going to a party.

I'm meeting friends.

Very well then.
Bring them if you must.

[T. Rex's "20th Century Boy"
playing]

More befitting your celebrity

than than fly blown tavern
you frequent.

Your entourage had better not
embarrass me.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

This...

is William Shakespeare,

a purveyor of that new style
of play, the tragicomedy...

so called because it is
almost moving and barely funny.

[Laughter]

Actually, I saw your play.
It was very entertaining.

Where do all those clever ideas
come from?

You'd be amazed where I find
inspiration.

He pilfered the story,

which I preferred
in its original Spanish.

Ooh, los jealousy
no es attractivo, Señor!

[Laughs]

Oh, please, don't tell me
thou art a writer.

That face would be wasted backstage.

Oh, he thinks far too much
of himself to be a writer.

- I am an actor.
- Oh.

Currently starring in
"Two Gentlemen of Verona."

Surely Kemp is the star.
[Laughs] He's very funny.

- Extremely funny.
- Was thou the dog?

[Laughing]

I was not the poxy dog.

- Ohh. [Laughs]
- Ruff ruff!

Is this not the wildest frolic
thou has ever seen?

Do you tire of
your new friends already?

I thought you'd found a new copyist.

Alice...
it's not what you think.

Oh, really? What is it?

Mr. Cotton...

[Lowered voice] he's somewhat
of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Oh. Rare.

[Whispers] The famously
married man is jealous.

Tell me more about these couplings.

Well, my parents have the kind of union

that I wish for.

They don't understand.

How can they?

To find greatness,
you must travel alone.

Come.

[Indistinct conversations, laughter]

Where?

To the real party.

A little... research.

Excuse me. Evening.

Oh. He's with me.

[Indistinct conversations]

♪♪

[Whispers] Alice?

Moll!

Where's Will?

He brings us to a party, then
dumps us for something better.

Oh, he's a puffed up fool.

Lucky he's married.
Removes all temptation.

They can all go and swive themselves.

One day, I'm gonna own
that theatre and run it.

Good.

And I'll do the costumes.

Hey, don't think I dress like this

on a servant's wage, do you?
[Laughs]

And in honor of that...

[Giggles]

- ...let's get shit-faced.
- [Glasses clink]

♪♪

Prepare thyself.

For what?

The unknowable.

♪♪

Sir Francis Bacon, our host.

A notorious sodomite.

Sir Francis,

may I introduce London's newest
addition to the firmament,

William Shakespeare.

I hear thou art momentarily popular

with those that love nothing
but dumb shows and noise.

[Chuckles]

Meet a real supernova...

Sir Walter Raleigh.

Just circumnavigated the globe
in his little wooden boat.

He was telling us
of, um... America.

America?

What's it like?

Vast. A brave new world that has
such things in it.

A brave new world.

- Are thou a spy?
- He is.

A Catholic disciple
of Robert Southwell.

- That's why I brought him.
- Not something to joke about.

- I'm a writer.
- Science?

Theology? History?

Plays.

An exponent of the tragicomedy,
so called...

What have you written recently, Kit?

Yes, Marlowe.
You seem rather barren of late.

The fault lies in my astrology.

Born under the sign of Pisces,
I'm doomed to swim against the stream.

The more my public want me,
the less I give them.

Perhaps the fault lies not
in your stars but in yourself,

that you are so fishified.

[Laughter]

Fishified. Touché, starlet.

I told you he would sing
for his supper.

[Gong crashes]

You're making an impact.

♪♪

[Flame whooshes]

Our purpose here tonight

is to access the divine.

♪♪

The main event.

John Dee, the Queen's chief
astrologer and mathematician.

Enjoying yourself so far?

Who says I'm not on the list?
Do you know who I am?

Leave it, Richard.

I'm the greatest actor in London.

[Laughter]

Thou art no Edward Alleyn.

Nay!
I'm Richard bloody Burbage!

I love Ned Alleyn.

Ohh. His Tambourlain
swelled my heart.

Can I enter or not?

Piss off.

[Indistinct conversations]

Let me go, your overgrown swine!

[Inhales deeply]

It will help immerse you
in the ceremony.

- What is it?
- Will you partake or no?

[Scoffs] Return to your sidekicks,
Shakespeare.

I had mistaken thee
for someone better.

[Inhales deeply]

[Inhaling deeply]

[Coughs]

♪♪

There are two worlds...

that which we can see

and another unseen but no less real.

Tonight, we will attempt
to access the unseen.

Dee is the most brilliant mind
in all Europe.

His private library is
larger than that

of the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge combined.

He astrologized the defeat
of the Spanish Armada.

Some say he actually conjured
the storm.

[Thunderclap]

Talk to us, Michael.

[Speaking Enochian]

Unlock the 49 gates of wisdom...

I wanted to see what
a believer like yourself

made of Dee's angels and demons.

and make your plan for us known!

- [Flame whooshes]
- [Gasps, pants]

[Gasping]

[Exhales deeply]

[Speaking Enochian]

[Grunts, continues speaking Enochian]

[Continues speaking Enochian]

[Screams]

[Thud]

Are there others amongst you
who dare to look into the flame?

I will.

That way, greatness lies.

I will also look into the flame.

Archangel Michael,

reveal the mysteries
of the unseen world

to these intrepid voyagers.

♪♪

[Beeping, clacking]

♪♪

Can you see something?

[Indistinct whispering]

He's a spy. He's a spy.

[Whispers indistinctly]

He's a Catholic spy.

- He's a spy.
- He's a traitor.

- He's a spy.
- He's a spy.

He's a Catholic spy.

- ...spy.
- ...spy.

Remember thy true faith, Will.

♪♪

[Crying] No.

Leave me.

Leave me!

- You will not drag me to hell!
- [Thud]

Please no. No.

No. [Whimpering]

[Screaming]

- What did you see?
- [Whimpering]

The lesser of two poets,

and that means he deserved
to die for you?

Poor, sweet Alice.

Don't touch her!

For Christ's sake,
tell me what you saw.

Heaven, hell, God, the Devil?

Are they real? Huh?

Leave me!

Huh? Are they real?!

♪♪

I cannot write
unless I conquer them all.

[Grunting]

♪♪

[Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" playing]

[Slurring] William Never-here!

Master Golden Quill!

Too good for his own friends!

♪♪

My nose!

My nose!

Not my face! My nose!

♪♪

♪♪

[Panting]

[Cheering and laughter echoing]

[Groans, gasps]

[Panting]

- [Door creaks]
- Will! No!

- [Grunts]
- Are you trying to burn the place down?

[Stomping feet]

[Huffs] What is this?

Don't look at it.

Please, Alice.

[Gasps]

There's not much about falconry,

but enough about the One True Faith

to see us all hanged.

Is Mr. Cotton
Robert Southwell?

[Inhales sharply]

Just answer the question.

[Voice breaks] Yes.

I was trying to protect you.

By lying to me?

By putting my family at risk
even though you swore you would not?!

I should have burnt it sooner.

I kept it only out of obligation.

And that is better,

that you risk our lives
through cowardice?

You are a liar and a fraud.

I ignored it

when your hands were stained
with Baxter's blood,

but I won't ignore it again,

nor waste another second upon you.

I'll stay away from you.

No. You will stay away
from all of us!

You make your excuses
and leave the theatre,

because if you don't,

I will tell my father
and my brother what you are.

And if they don't tear you in two,
they'll make sure Topcliffe does.

[Papers thud]

[Latches clack, door creaks]

[Man shouting in distance]

[Grunts softly]

[Birds chirping]

[Gasps, pants]

[Chirping continues]

Awake, duckling?

Aye.

Your mother's gone to see
if she can get you

something new to wear to Keenan's.

Oh, she shouldn't
be wasting money on dresses.

That's what I said.

We could put you in sack cloth.

Any man with eyes would still
want you.

Thank you, Pa.

I've a good feeling about today.

[Indistinct shouting in distance]

[Sighs]

[Sizzling]

- [Knock on door]
- Kelly.

[Door latch clanks]

[Birds chirping]

Open up, Kelly.

[Clank]

[Door creaks]

You put on quite the show
last night, friend.

Thou wouldst know a good show,
Master Marlowe.

We're both proud purveyors
of hocus-pocus.

Ask your friend
if what he saw was true.

I saw nothing.

You were looking in the wrong place.

And where exactly should I have
directed my gaze?

In here.

It's a journey
few have the stomach for.

You're just another charlatan.

I didn't invite you,
Mr. Marlowe. And I'm busy.

Wait.

I have a strong stomach.

If you can turn it,

it will be worth your pain.

[Speaks Latin]

I've not read it, nor do I intend to.

I won't take up your cause.

You recall the day
when we were hunting...

I will not be sermonized.

And the stag broke
your beloved dog's leg.

And the only mercy was death.

You wept and wailed...

I was a boy.

So I had to do it.

I had to wash the blood from my hands,

but I did what was hard
for the greater good.

Again, you turn from what is hard.

This is not my fight.

Are you faithless?

I have faith.

They butchered your uncle,

and yet you write frippery
and pursue of fame

like a rat does a plague cart.

The "Two Gentlemen of Verona"
is not the best thing

I will ever write,
but Raleigh's first exploration

took him no further than Ireland.

[Laughs] And what is your America?

A more tragically funny comedy?

Plays that will serve as
explorations of what is human.

The mind, the soul.

Plays that question how we love
and why we fight.

Plays that show us how much
and how little we know.

Well... [Chuckles]

that is a great comedy
from a man who has created

nothing since he came to London
bar a whore.

That is what you've created
in Alice, is it not?

You took a virtuous girl
and you made her a whore.

Speak not to me of Alice.

Go sweat with your whore, playwright.

♪♪

Thou art full of bitterness
and anger, cousin.

And peace has never been born
of these things.

♪♪

[Indistinct conversations]

♪♪

[Door creaks]

"Except I be by Silvia in the night,

"there is no music in the nightingale.

"Unless I look on Silvia in the day,

there is no day for me to look upon."

♪♪

This...

is my essence.

♪♪

You told her to be here
when I returned?

I did.

I fear she will end up ruined
before we can marry her off.

[Door closes]

Then we had better
marry me off quickly.

But I'll not wear that.

Keenan can take me as I am
or not at all.

Then you'll take him?

If he'll help with the theatre

and doesn't stand in the way
of me being there.

He won't.

He's a good man, Alice.

He's rich and stinks of beer,

but the next might stink of fish.

You would give your life to a man
who would kill our anointed queen.

Southwell fights only for peace
and the right to worship.

Worship? Spain is Catholic!
France is Catholic!

Rome is Catholic!

Southwell and his minions
are a Trojan Horse

for which the axis of evil will emerge

to slaughter our gracious queen

and every trueblooded Englishman!

I will pray for your soul, Richard.

I beseech thee,
do not throw thy life away

on a doomed cause.

Doomed? [Chuckles]

We cannot be defeated.

Father Southwell's words will
march like an army in ink.

As we speak, he works on a manuscript,

which will be a call to arms for
sleeping Catholics everywhere.

A call to arms? You have
seen this manuscript?

"Avaunt, o viper."

- Have you seen the manuscript?
- "I, thy spite defy."

Enough.

- "There is a god that overrules..."
- Enough! Enough! Halt!

"and shorten or prolong
our brittle course."

- [Shouts indistinctly]
- I on His mercy, not thy might, rely,

"for Him, I live,

and for Him, I hope to die!"

[Smacking]

[Breathing heavily]

[Door closes]

[Metal clanks]

Sir?

He was a choirister.

I remember him at church a Sunday,

his voice so pure...
like an angel.

I failed him.

I failed to make him see the truth.

Southwell has killed
another man today,

a good man.

He killed him with words
more deadly than any sword.

[Scoffs] Writers...

writers are the new serpent
in the garden.

Count to three.

One...

- two...
- [Crunch]

Ow! You witch!

It will heal more regular now.

It will never be regular again.

Well, maybe not completely.
[Chuckles]

Ohh.

I used to look into the mirror
and feel joy.

Forthwith, I will only feel
disappointment. [Thud]

Now I know how the rest of you feel.

[Knock on door]

It's Will. Can I come in?

Be gone, Shakespeare, you cur!

He's your friend.

He is the vile destroyer of my face!

Come in, Will.

[Door creaks opens]

I'll leave you to it.

[Door opens]

- I've come to say sorry.
- [Door closes]

Go on then.

I was as high as a hawk on some drug.

Which thou did not share

because thou was off
at the proper party.

Twas not the proper party

but a group of old men
talking about angels.

Really?

- No maidens?
- None.

[Scoffs] Sodomites.

[Scoffs]

All I had was my face.
Now I don't even have that.

You're an actor, not an ornament.

And a great actor, too.

If you really thought that,
you'd write me a great role.

I spent the whole morning
coming up with one,

and I have it.

Thou hast?

Completely original idea.

Do I get to play a king?

Yes. Oberon.

[Whispers] Oberon.

King of...

the fairies.

King of the fairies?

It's a tale of drugs and magic.

The fairy king is fighting
with the fairy queen

over a little changeling boy.

What?! Well, that sounds
very effeminate.

I don't want to play a fairy king.

Tis not easy coming up with parts!

Yes, it is!

[Laughs] Moron.

"Holinshed's Chronicles"
of England, Ireland, and Wales.

It's full of them.

There's a part I particularly like...

a duke who must play kingmaker.

[Pages flip]

You think I'm an idiot.

No. [Sighs]

I based the "Two Gentlemen
of Verona" on a story

because I had no time.

From now on, I want the ideas
to be all my own.

Ideas like King of the Fairies?

I think you need the book.

[Sighs] Show me your story.

Henry VI.
It's a very good story.

The English and the French go to war.

It's been done.

It's 1589, Will.
Everything's been done.

It's how you do it that counts.

The king is weak, and the duke
must save his kingdom.

It's great.

Mm, it has potential.

I knew it!

But only with the right man
to make it great.

I'll ask Edward Alleyn.

[Scoffs] Swive thee.

How is your sister today?

- She is well.
- She is?

She has agreed to marry the beer man.

My parents have taken her
to do the deal.

♪♪

[Indistinct conversations]

Whoa!

- Oh!
- Aah!

[Indistinct conversations]

♪♪

You look lovely today, Alice.

Not dressed too fancy
like some girls, but simple.

And pretty.

[Shouting] She's perfect!

You don't want
a beautiful one, Keenan.

They can't keep their legs shut!

[Spits]

- [Birds chirping]
- [Panting]

[Grunts]

It must be a daunting prospect,
getting a new family.

Not if I also get to keep
my old family.

Of course.

My family is a large one,
full of players and writers.

She mumbles her words!

[Loudly] She's saying that
she won't be shut up indoors

after she is married!

[Grunting]

Keenan worked hard for what he has.

He doesn't need you giving it away

to every beggar with a tale to tell!

[Panting]

I will not give his money away.

It's rather warm.

Um, if you don't mind,
I'll open the window.

Maybe it's your fertile time!

[Window creaks]

- Lovely sausage.
- Thank you.

[Under breath]
What are you doing here?

If marrying Keenan will
make you happy,

then I wish it for you
with all my heart,

but it would kill me deader than
stone if you married him

because you thought all men
as cowardly and base as I.

Thou wilt get a cold quim

with the wind blowing up your skirt!

You should go.

A frigid fanny!

- There's something else.
- What?

I won't stay away from the theatre.

I did see greatness in our stars
that night, for all of us.

[Whispers] Oh, shut up!

Odd girl!
Muttering like a loon!

I intend to make the theatre thrive

- until you can take it over and run it.
- You must go.

[Locks door]

[Stool legs scrape floor]

[Mouthing words]

♪♪

Fresh from the censor...
a new fellow,

enjoying his first blush of fame.

William Shakespeare?

[Richard chuckles]

May the sun shine on three
always, Barnaby.

Thou can't have scribed
an entire play so soon.

I have the beginnings
and I'd value your opinion.

"Henry VI."

A play in which one order falls
and another rises.

And great men behave with both
virtue and villainy.

Sounds better than fairies.

I hear you're working
on something new.

Sister, art thou marrying
the beer man?

I haven't decided yet.

Don't take too long.
You're not getting any younger.

I thought you might need a copyist.

Thou art so much more than that.

You can read Margaret,

a woman who makes her own choices.

What happened to your earring?

- I realized that...
- It made you look like a cock?

Aye. [Chuckles]

And that an Aladdin's treasure
of baubles

could not purchase
what I truly desire...

this, our work, and thee.

- [Claps hands]
- May we begin?!

Suffolk.

- [Richard sighs]
- Everyone else, start off stage.

Well, hath your highness
seen into this duke.

Smooth runs the water
where the brook is deep.

He harbors treason.

The fox barks not
when he would steal the lamb.

- [Door creaks open]
- No, no, my...

[Footsteps approach]

What do you want?

William Shakespeare.

Just go out the back. Run.

♪♪

I swore I would never endanger
your family again,

and I meant it.

[Breathing heavily]

I came here tonight because...

I couldn't bear the thought
of all those words

tumbling out like stars
from heaven's mouth without me.

If you are not in my world,

who will help me see those stars?

I will be fine.

Us Stratford boys are famously sturdy.

♪♪

I am William Shakespeare.

Mr. Topcliffe requests
an audience.

[Inhales sharply]

What for?

When I called it a request,
I was being polite.

Peace, Richard.

We can do this the other way,
if you prefer.

♪♪

He'll be fine.
You heard him say so.

Writers are persuasive liars.

These insidious peddlers of propaganda

will rot the very fabric
of our society.

The Catholics have
a particularly skilled deceiver

in Robert Southwell.

Do you not intend to dine,
Master Shakespeare?

I have no appetite.

I do not begrudge a man
the right to make ends meet.

But theatres?

Theatres are pits of debauchery
and sedition.

I would have every last one
razed to the ground if I could.

Then praise be that you can't.

I wrote a play myself
at the university.

It was very well received...
by those who mattered.

The rabble are trickier to please,
but I observe you have a gift for it.

The "Two Gentlemen of Verona"

is lauded by lowlifes.

I fear the bar is set too low
with that particular work.

No.

It is set just where I need it.

I intend to use you as weaponry
in the war against the papacy.

You are going to write me a play,

an anti-Catholic missive
to the masses

to counter Southwell's propaganda.

You have a week.

♪♪