‘Lost play’ of Shakespeare found!

Spicezee Bureau

London: After almost three centuries of mystery, it has now been established that ‘Double Falsehood’ is based on ‘Cardenio’, a work of William Shakespeare. According to reports by Professor Brean Hammond of Nottingham University, ‘Double Falsehood’ or the ‘Distressed Lovers’, a romantic tragic-comedy by Lewis Theobald is – as the author always maintained it was – substantially based on a real Shakespeare play called ‘Cardenio’. This report has been backed by the Shakespeare publisher Arden. It’s also being said that the play will open at the Royal Shakespeare Company`s Swan Theatre in Stratford when the venue reopens after its three-year closure. According to Hammond, Shakespeare wrote the first and second acts of ‘Double Falsehood’, which was named ‘Cardenio’ by him, and parts of the third, before his younger assistant took over. In 1613, the play was twice staged but later it was ignored until revived by author and editor Lewis Theobald. However, when Theobald produced what he called Shakespeare’s ‘lost play’, he was met with accusations by Alexander Pope and other literary figures. They called the play as a ‘hoax’. But Theobald’s claims were found to be true when a reference to the play and Shakespeare’s connection with it was found in the Stationers’ Register, after his death. “As the 20th century progressed, however, a gradual trickle of belief – not in the idea that the play as it stands is Shakespeare, or even Shakespeare edited by Theobald – but in a much more complex story, developed into an irresistible flood,” Prof Hammond said to a news daily. Hammond also called Double Falsehood a "flawed play", stating, "This version of the Shakespeare play has been doctored. Theobald cut out material that he didn`t think appropriate, but this was quite common. Shakespeare was very frequently rewritten in the 17th and 18th centuries." Over the years, there have been plenty of theories and books that claim that Shakespeare`s plays were written by Edward de Vere, Sir Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe. ‘Double Falsehood’ is short and there are no long speeches. The story revolves around two men and two women, including an aristocratic villain called Henriquez who rapes the virtuous beautiful girl Violante. The play is sure to interest millions of scholars around the world.