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The Roman Plays?

On PBS, Michael Wood goes in search of Shakespeare, the crypto-Roman Catholic.

Feb 16, 2004, Vol. 9, No. 22 • By PETER W. DICKSON
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AS FASCINATION with Shakespeare's dramas and poems endures, the desire to know more about the inner life of the greatest literary figure in the English language intensifies--though scholars have always failed to satisfy it, because "there is no evidence, you know." That was the pithy response of Simon Schama when he warned British historian-turned-documentary filmmaker Michael Wood about the pitfalls in trying to make the first-ever film that would make Shakespeare come alive.

But Wood persisted. The result is both an impressive film and a companion book entitled "In Search of Shakespeare." The four-hour BBC film will air nationally on various PBS channels in segments throughout February. Many who watch this film may not be aware that Wood's exposé of Shakespeare's family's abiding attachment to Roman Catholicism, and perhaps his own, is quite controversial. Since the mid-1980s, scholars have had sharp differences concerning the "Catholic question." For his part, Wood seems perplexed that others fail to appreciate that his exploration of how this religious heritage colored the bard's life and writings helps greatly to overcome the paucity of other evidence illuminating the man's inner life.

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