Shakespeare: 18th Century work Double Falsehood is his lost play

By Nick Britten, and Richard Alleyne 700AM GMT sixteen March 2010

A portrayal of William Shakespeare that is believed to be the usually accurate picture of Shakespeare done during his hold up Photo GETTY IMAGES

An 18th-century fool around attributed to the Bard but discharged as a hoax, indeed is his work, according to an consultant in the novel of the time.

Double Falsehood, published by Lewis Theobald in 1728, is a version of Shakespeares long-lost fool around Cardenio, he believes.

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The strange was a partnership in between Shakespeare and John Fletcher, his inheritor as residence playwright to the Kings Men company. It was achieved twice in 1613 but never done it in to imitation and was lost to history.

Theobald claimed, some-more than a century later, to have had 3 copies of the play, that were additionally subsequently lost, on that he formed his adaptation.

Double Falsehood was spoken a anything forged shortly after it non-stop and disappeared, nonetheless Theobald became a important editor of the playwright.

However, after 10 years research, Brean Hammond, highbrow of Modern English Literature at Nottingham University, believes he has found explanation of the flawlessness from chronological justification and investigate of the text.

"Its unfit to review Double Falsehood with Cardenio since those manuscripts have been lost," he said.

"But if you see inside the content there is the participation of 3 hands at work, Shakespeare, his co-operator John Fletcher and Theobald."

Some difference in Double Falsehood were not in any of Theobald or Fletchers alternative works, he said.

"A small e.g. is the word "absonant that appears in the initial action of Double Falsehood. It equates to unfortunate to the ear, oppressive or discordant.

"This word does not crop up in Theobald or Fletchers work but it does crop up to be a word that was invented by Shakespeare."

In the play, Henriquez, a noble, tries to hurt a immature lady declared Violante. He afterwards tries to seduces Leonora, the dictated of his crony Julio.

Ultimately he gets his "comeuppance", Prof Hammond said.

As a outcome of his research, Theobalds instrumentation is to be published in the Arden Shakespeare array and the Royal Shakespeare Company is operative towards a speculative reformation of the original.

Prof Jonathan Bate, of Warwick University, says on this page that the investigate "proves that it is in a little piece Shakespearean".

Stanley Wells, ubiquitous editor of the Oxford Shakespeare array was less excited. He pronounced "Theres some-more reason to hold that the fool around preserves pieces of Fletcher than Shakespeare. However, there competence be a bit of Shakespearean DNA in it."