Shakespeare in quarantine with writer's block and a feminist breaking in? Chaos ensues.
It’s 1606 and William Shakespeare is stuck in quarantine with his unpaid apprentice, Francis. It would be a GREAT time to write King Lear…if he weren’t plagued with writer’s block. In through the window climbs Jane Anger, the Cunning Woman, with a large sack and a mind to change history forever.
Writing
Sharp anachronistic dialogue that roasts Shakespeare beautifully.
Acting
Michael Urie's sweaty, desperate Shakespeare is *chef's kiss*.
Production
Intimate theatrical staging that COVID couldn't kill.
Director
Jess Chayes
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jane Anger was a real pamphleteer in 1589, one of the first women to publish a defense of women in England—this film finally gives her the revenge she deserved.
Filmed during actual 2021 theatre closures; the quarantine premise hit different because the cast was literally living it. Meta misery.
US
