SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN BEHIND THE NAME

The film argues that the author’s bisexuality is the reason for the pseudonym “Shake-speare.” Filmed on location in Venice, Verona, Mantua, Padua, and Brenta, Italy, at sites visited by De Vere and the settings for The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Two Gentlemen of Verona, the film features award-winning actors and directors Sir Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance, Diane Paulus, and Tina Packer.

The film also visits sites in the U.K. including Castle Hedingham, the ancestral home of the De Vere family; Burghley House, home of William Cecil, advisor to Queen Elizabeth and the real-life model for Hamlet's Polonius; and Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.