Did Shakespeare have write stuff? Live Arts asks a comic question

By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: May 15, 2008

Live Arts will open its production of Amy Freed’s comedy “The Beard of Avon’’ at 8 tonight.

Other performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday and Wednesday and 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The production runs through June 7.

Betsy Rudelich Tucker directs a show that takes a closer — and amusing — look at the contentious scholarly debate over the authorship of William Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Tucker’s cast includes Amanda Pierson Finger, Bill Gray, Clayton Grieman, Ronda Hewitt, Michael Horan, Ben Jamieson, Scott Keith, Aspen Miller, Chris Patrick, Adam Smith, Bill Smith, Tim White and Linda Zuby.

“The Beard of Avon’’ explores the debate between those who believe that Shakespeare wrote all of his works and those who believe that he did not have the education, social background or experience to pen such stunning plays and poems.

Many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries have been suggested as the actual writers of his works, including Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford; William Stanley, the sixth earl of Derby; Sir Francis Bacon; Sir Francis Walsingham; and even Queen Elizabeth I herself.