Was Shakespeare gay? Well, if Melmoth's latest theatrical offering is to be believed, the 35 year old Shakespeare was not only gay, but shacked up with the 17 year old future Earl of Pembroke”

The new play, To W.H., based on Shakespeare's own sonnets (which were all dedicated to the mysterious 'Mr WH') has been written by Melmoth Artistic Director Stuart Draper.

Stephen Beeny caught up with the writer and the show's director, Anton Krause and writer Stuart Draper to find out more.

Melmoth is well-known for its gay takes on Shakespeare. Its sell-out run of A Midsummer Night's Dream (in which the roles of Lysander and Helena were swapped so Helena was in love with Hermia, Lysander in love with Demetrius) was a hit with both audiences and critics alike.

Returning to familiar territory, Melmoth's latest offering now tackles the Bard himself. Funny and poignant in equal measure, To W.H. finally bangs the nail into the coffin of Shakespeare's heterosexuality.

As the blurb states: “Romeo loved Juliet. Anthony loved Cleopatra. Shakespeare loved Willy.”

“I've always believed that the key to Shakespeare is contained in the sonnets,” explains writer and actor Stuart Draper.

“Many of the themes he touches on in his plays, the feelings of lust and the hopelessness of love are there. But somehow they are even rawer. There's a visceral quality to the Sonnets that he touches on in his plays: but somehow because they are so personal they have a greater power to move.”

Anton Krause, the show's director agrees. “When I first started working with Stuart on Melmoth's Shakespeare pieces, Stuart was constantly referring to the sonnets in his workshops. When we started on A Midsummer Night's Dream, I sat down and read them one evening (I was familiar with most of his plays, but had never got round to reading them before). I said, ‘this would make a fantastic play’, and Stuart immediately handed me the first draft of To W.H.. I read it in one sitting and loved it. I knew immediately this should be our next piece.'

Since that moment, the play has gone through a number of rewrites, thanks to input from Soho Theatre and Out of Joint. And new material has emerged during the rehearsal process itself.

Taking the role of Will Shakespeare is Stuart himself, and he is joined on stage by Old Melmothian Luke Leeves (Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream).

“Although I've directed him several times, this is the first Melmoth production in which I have scenes with him,” says Draper.

“That said, I worked with him last year on a production of The Imaginary Invalid in which he played my surgeon, Dr Purgon. He's a fantastic actor with a great range and we seem to spark well.

“We did a read through of To W.H. one day after rehearsals, and he said, ‘I want this part.’ He got it.”

The plot follows the Sonnets closely - although there is a fair degree of what Draper terms “fantabulation”.

According to the Sonnets, Shakespeare writes to a young boy urging him to get married and have an heir. As the Sonnets progress, the poet falls in love with the boy, and eventually loses him to the Dark Lady. When the Sonnets were first published, they bore the inscription:

To The Only Begetter Of
These Insuing Sonnets
Mr. W. H. All Happiness
And That Eternity
Promised By
Our Ever-Living Poet Wisheth
The Well-Wishing
Adventurer In
Setting Forth

Scholars have been debating who 'WH' is ever since.

“We don't really know who WH was - although there are a number of contenders,” explains Krause.

“To W.H. goes with the widely held view that he was in fact William Herbert, who later went on to become Earl of Pembroke.”

“He certainly seems to fit best,” says Draper. “Shakespeare had contact with the Herberts, who patronised him for a while. It would seem that Herbert's mother employed Shakespeare to write Sonnets urging him to settle down and provide an heir for his estate. Unfortunately in the process, Shakespeare fell in love with him. If the sonnets are to be believed, he really was very beautiful:

"If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say 'This poet lies:
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.

“The Sonnets then speak of scandal, time apart - and then the fateful intervention of the Dark Lady. All that is in the play. What I've done is merely dramatise the greatest play that Shakespeare never wrote,” says Draper, humbly.

Many of the various theories as to WH's identity are included in the play - including Oscar Wilde's own theory that WH was in fact Willy Hughes, a boy actor in Shakespeare's company. Draper has worked all this in to create a moving - and at times hysterical - romp through Shakespeare's life.

There are original songs too, provided by Martin Thiselton, sung by the Dark Lady herself, who appears as a tortured Torch Singer throughout.

“It's all very camp,” says Krause, “but it's also incredibly moving. If you imagine the passion of Romeo and Juliet, with the comedy of Midsummer, then you have To W.H..”

To W.H., by Stuart Draper with original music by Martin Thisleton
The Hobgoblin
7 Devonshire Road
Forest Hill
London, SE23
020 7639 5590 / www.melmothproductions.com

18-21 April, 2-5 May and 16-19 May 2006 at 7.45pm, Tuesday to Friday

To W.H. runs in repertory with Not About Heroes, by Stephen MacDonald.

Interested in Shakespeare? Then why not buy his Complete Works online and save yourself some money. Alternatively, buy the DVD of Richard III starring Ian McKellen, or the Oscar winning, Shakespeare in Love.