Oberon Chair Richard Joyrich, MD
As you will be able to read on multiple sites, the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship put on an event at the National Press Club on March 4, 2020 to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary (to the day) of the publication of Shakespeare Identified by J. Thomas Looney, the book that launched the Oxfordian movement in the Shakespeare authorship inquiry.
I was indeed fortunate to be among the 70 or so participants in this centennial academic symposium and would like to present my impressions of the event here.
By the way, the picture of me at the podium is just to document that I was there. I was actually not one of the speakers. But I can understand how it might be confusing to anyone reading this blog. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time someone got credit for something he didn’t do just because he may have been present among others associated with the event. Yes, I am thinking of William Shakspere of Stratford.
By the way, the picture of me at the podium is just to document that I was there. I was actually not one of the speakers. But I can understand how it might be confusing to anyone reading this blog. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time someone got credit for something he didn’t do just because he may have been present among others associated with the event. Yes, I am thinking of William Shakspere of Stratford.
Silly Merry Wives
As a prelude to the centennial symposium I decided to get into the Shakespeare mood by attending some theater productions. After all, you cannot see a play by Shakespeare too many times.Well, maybe for the case of The Merry Wives of Windsor, I perhaps should have forgone my opportunity. On Sunday, March 1, I saw a production of this play at the Folger Theatre. You’d think that, with its amazing resources, the Folger Shakespeare Library could assemble a better cast and director. The show was too campy and silly for words.
The only memorable thing about the production was that it allowed me to be among the last members of the public to be able to be at the Folger Shakespeare Library for at least two and a half years. The Folger is undergoing a massive renovation project and will be closed for at least that amount of time. You can get some details at https://www.folger.edu/about/building-renovation-project.
One can only hope that, upon reopening, it will be known as the Folger Oxford-Shakespeare Library, but I am not holding my breath.
Super Timon
On the other hand, I was able to experience a Super Tuesday by attending a production of Timon of Athens on March 3 at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The Folger certainly has something to learn from that impressive organization.
Timon of Athens is a rarely performed play -- I believe I have only been able to see it four times. Interestingly, it was performed at Stratford, Ontario just last season, but this production of the Shakespeare Theatre Company amply rivals, in my opinion, the Stratford one -- and, of course, that is saying something! I’m not sure which was better.
The STC production -- billed as “by William Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton” -- featured the accomplished Kathryn Hunter as Timon in a sort of gender-bending production where many of the male roles were portrayed by women. (In Shakespeare’s original, the only speaking female characters are two prostitutes.)
Well, anyway, I suppose I should start to describe the actual event I came to Washington to see.
Symposium marches forth
The March Fourth Shakespeare Identified Centennial Symposium featured five exceptional speakers and one exceptional moderator. Our moderator was Bob Meyers, who we have to thank for the ability to use the impressive and exclusive National Press Club for the venue since Bob is a member of that organization. Not just anybody can get up to the thirteenth floor (Yes, the floor is actually numbered “13”; I hope that’s not a bad omen for the future of our movement.) to attend an event, no sir! In fact, all attendees had to have a QR code provided by email on their phone to scan before being admitted.
The speakers were Bonner Miller Cutting, Roger Stritmatter, Tom Regnier, James Warren, and Cheryl Eagan-Donovan. They are all shown in the photo above, along with moderator Bob Meyers.
Bonner Miller Cutting, Roger Stritmatter, Tom Regnier, James Warren, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, and Bob Meyers
After introductions and remarks by Bob Meyers, James Warren began by outlining how important Looney’s book has become and how revolutionary it is. The authorship inquiry, and in particular, the case for Edward deVere, seventeenh earl of Oxford, has gone mainstream. Jim showed how many actors, both past and present, have embraced the Oxford theory, as well as several Supreme Court justices, historians, and other public figures. The subject now comes up in popular books, movies, and comic strips.
In addition to a riveting read, Looney’s book and the ideas expressed have allowed us a much better understanding of the plays and poems of Shakespeare, the Elizabethan Era, and the nature of genius and literary creativity.
Tom Regnier, a practicing attorney, then spoke about the nature of evidence and how many of the greatest minds of the last 100 years, including lawyers, judges, and Supreme Court justices have been persuaded to doubt the traditional theory of Shakespeare authorship and often to embrace the Oxfordian theory. Tom singled out Justice John Paul Stevens, referring to writings by Stevens on the subject.
Cheryl Eagan-Donovan spoke about her recently released documentary Nothing Is Truer Than Truth and how it shows how Oxford’s travels in Italy had a crucial influence on the Shakespeare plays and poems.
Bonner Cutting outlined in detail how Looney set about to discover the true author of the works of Shakespeare by, for the first time, preparing a profile of the author from the works, without any bias or preconceptions of the author’s identity and then seeking to find someone who matched the profile. Bonner described how hard it must have been to find someone to fit the 18 characteristics of the author that Looney outlined in his book, and how Looney finally found his match in Edward deVere.
Bonner then went in to briefly discuss newer evidence, not known to Looney: Oxford’s £1000 annuity, the details of his travels in Italy, and personal connections between Oxford and the First Folio of Shakespeare. Looney himself wrote in his book that an important test of a hypothesis is that the hypothesis can be validated by new information, and Bonner showed that newer evidence is definitely helping to validate Looney’s initial work.
Bonner gave a shout out to James Warren for his work in issuing his new edition of Shakespeare Identified, in which he supplies the reader with footnotes and a bibliography of the sources used by Looney, something that Looney did not provide himself.
Roger Strimatter then spoke about his work with the Geneva Bible owned by Edward deVere and how its annotations show an impressive correlation with the biblical allusions found in the works of Shakespeare as a model of how the Oxfordian theory can influence Shakespeare studies in academia.
Roger also spoke about the negative feedback (in addition to total ignoring) his academic work has engendered among academics, pointing out how many of his staunchest critics have shown that they have not even read or studied his work before launching into vehement denial of Roger's work.
What a sad commentary on the supposed open-mindedness of true academic pursuit!
All the talks were followed by short question-and-answer sessions, in which many good questions and thoughts were offered, leading to later discussion among the attendees of the symposium.
And then it was time for cake!
Among much further discussion, the attendees quickly finished off the wonderful cake pictured here for a rousing finish to a wonderful and satisfying afternoon.