The Which of Shakespeare's Why by Leigh Light

Leigh Light

The Which of Shakespeare's Why

The controversy over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays has been around almost since they were written. Was the genius behind the plays really that obscure glover’s son from Stratford? Or was it someone else entirely—a man whose class, background, education, and peculiarities make him a more than plausible candidate? In The Which of Shakespeare’s Why, a 21st-century playwright named Harry Haines makes the case for a major contender via a play he himself is writing for a struggling New Jersey theatre company. Faced with strong disapproval from the “Stratfordites” and with the backing of supporters that sometimes takes some unusual forms, Harry attempts, against great odds, to get the play written and staged. In the process he has to overcome his own doubts, stay on the right side of the right people, keep his romantic life under control, and deal with not only a difficult actress or two but a flock of opinionated Rockettes. Part hilarious farce, part serious critical examination, The Which of Shakespeare’s Why provides a thought-provoking look at a controversial puzzle with a surprising, ingenious, and wholly satisfying ending that Shakespeare—whoever he was—would have given a standing ovation.

Reviews

This spry novel from Light, writing under a pen name, vaults into one of perennial frays of English literature: contesting the authorship of the works we know of as Shakespeare's, the plays and sonnets that are the very headwaters of the English language. In lengthy prefatory material, Light identifies Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, “the most well-rounded advanced scholar of the English Renaissance,” as the true bard, arguing—like many before—that the historical record, the complex cultural and political dynamics of the Elizabethan era, and richness of reference and knowledge in the plays themselves simply don’t match the long-established attribution of the works to “the Stratford man.” The novel itself finds Harry Haines, a contemporary playwright who has researched “the consequences of Elizabethan literary controls,” striving to save the Trenton, New Jersey, Shakespeare festival and resolved to investigate the truth behind the possibility of the earl’s authorship, challenges that Light cleverly binds together.

Light takes on the theory with his director, Lance, as they create a production of a modernized Hamlet while convincing the rich, egotistical wife of their former wealthy patron to fund the festival by offering her the role of Queen Elizabeth. Light’s erudite, engaging novel explores contexts of authorship, theater, and intrigue in this age and in Shakespeare’s, blending historical enigmas, contemporary stage drama, and a welcome sense of play. While the prose at times edges into the essayistic, Light is clever and involving throughout, offering deft wordplay and a sense of the politics of theater, then and now.

The dramatic juxtaposition of medieval and modern, spurred by conspiracies and drama, provides plenty of insight on the importance of studying history and literature. Lovers of the mysteries of Shakespeare—and anyone fascinated by why those mysteries and the work itself remain so urgent—will enjoy and be challenged by this crisply stimulating literary experience.

Takeaway: Playful novel of theater, mysteries, and the question of Shakespearian authorship.

Comparable Titles: Charlie Lovett’s The Bookman's Tale, Julie Schumacher’s The Shakespeare Requirement.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

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