When I first heard of Ted Lange’s new play, “Shakespeare Over My Shoulder,” and that it dealt with the alleged controversy over the authorship of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare, I winced. I have read on the subject, and I am on the side of the majority of scholars who have concluded that the disputed authorship of Shakespeare’s plays is a conspiracy theory suitable for hobbyists and amateurs but not serious scholars. I expected to see a play promoting one or another of the competing theories amongst the scholarly outliers (I was going to say nut cases) in the field. I’m not saying those folks are stupid (Sigmund Freud, after all, was among their number — although there are those that would, ironically, classify the good doctor as the nut case of all nut cases). But I’m well aware that very smart people can believe very silly things. Arthur Conan Doyle created the brilliant fictional logician Sherlock Holmes, but was himself a believer in the literal reality of faeries.
Happily, as it turns out, playwright Ted Lange has no axe to grind. He is not really concerned with conspiracy theories about who wrote the plays, but with the comic potential of the situation. He thought of the play when he attended a conference on Shakespearean authorship and when one presenter claimed “Bacon wrote the plays!” a fellow audience member told him, “That’s ridiculous! Marlowe wrote the plays!” And when another presenter said, “Marlowe wrote the plays,” he was told “That’s ridiculous! The Earl of Oxford wrote the plays.” This tempest in a greenroom struck his funny bone and “Shakespeare Over My Shoulder” is the happy result. It is an entertainment, not an argument, and that’s all for the good.
It is not only entertainment, but highly sophisticated entertainment with erudite references to Shakespeare’s plays, historical details about all the players, hilarious dialogue and comic finesse.
One of the funniest conceits is that, in this play, Shakespeare is, well, something of a boob, not to put too fine a point on it. Nic Moore plays Shakespeare as an over-the-top-ham actor, and he is to-die-for. His rendition of the opening monologue from Richard III (his go to audition piece) is a scream. It will land even funnier for those who may recall that there is a tradition of playing that monologue or a theatrical hunchback for laughs. I’m thinking of Neil Simon’s “Goodbye Girl,” and Marty Feldman’s characterization of Igor in “Young Frankenstein.” If you know, you know. But even those who don’t catch the allusions will laugh heartily at Moore’s performance.
The three snooty playwrights who wish to hire Shakespeare as a front are played by Michael Anthony Brown (as the Earl of Oxford), Gary Moore (as Sir Francis Bacon), and Ronnie Rice (as Christopher Marlowe). Their plummy, University-inflected speech is an example of subtle humor that is truly delicious. They are as boobalicious as Moore’s Bard, but not as self-aware. While it is not front and center in the script, it is impossible to miss that the three University writers with the snooty accents are played by Black actors while Shakespeare is white. This fact adds gravity to the subtext, but playwright Lange is wise enough to let this land without calling it to special attention.
The script, not unlike “Shakespeare in Love,” is full of references to the text of Shakespeare’s plays and historical facts about Elizabethan England. For my money, Lange’s “Shakespeare Over My Shoulder” is far more successful at this than Tom Stoppard’s “Shakespeare In Love.” I respect Stoppard, but in this case Black American playwright Ted Lange has beat the British master of Shakespearean in-jokes at his own game. Go, Ted Lange!
This is not to say that viewers need to be Shakespearean scholars (even amateur ones) to laugh at “Shakespeare Over My Shoulder.” There is more than enough pure slapstick to keep any audience amused. In particular, there is some really impressive comic swordplay (Nic Moore is the Fight Captain). And Nic Moore’s skills as a physical comedian are prodigious.
There is plenty more to say about “Shakespeare Over My Shoulder,” such as the background fact that, at the time of the play, the theaters had recently been closed because of the bubonic plague and although they reopened, the theatrical world was decimated and the players were left hungering for work. In our own post-Covid era, this cuts close to the bone, and I don’t mean the proverbial “funny bone.”
Lange has written a delightful play that delivers much joy, and deserves to be widely produced. It’s a winner.
“Shakespeare Over My Shoulder” continues at the Shelton Theatre in San Francisco through June 7, 2026. For further information click here.
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Rating: **** (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
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“Shakespeare Over My Shoulder” by Ted Lange. Produced by African American Shakespeare Company. Director: Ted Lange. Production Manager & Casting Director: James Mercer II. Stage Mansger and Set Designer: Ely McIntire. Costume Designer: Alia Davis Brown. Lighting Designer: Kevin Myrick. Sound Designer: Alexis Brooks. Backstage Assistant: Alan Szeto.
Cast:
Earl of Oxford: Michael Anthony Brown. Sir Francis Bacon: Gary Moore. William Shakespeare: Nic Moore. Christopher Marlowe: Ronnie Rice.
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