Shakespeare’s Sonnets are the most compelling source for an emotional and dramatic journey into the psychology of the man himself. Self-analytical, brutally honest, they are his story told in his own words. Behind the lyrical, beautifully crafted language, a brooding obsession with the ‘Lovely Boy’ and Shakespeare’s extra-marital relationship with a Dark Lady is revealed. The sonnet sequence is his unique meditation on love, sex, mortality and the creative urge, which has tantalised scholars and casual readers alike.
A Waste of Shame is an intense drama about the passionate and destructive love triangle that consumed Shakespere in his troubled middle years adapting some of the most celebrated, sexual, raw, and vitriolic love poems ever written.
William Boyd on A Waste of Shame
This is the story of the celebrated and mysterious love-triangle that lies behind Shakespeare’s sonnets. Who was the “fair youth” that so enthralled the playwright? Who was the “dark lady” that tormented him with lust and hate? The film attempts to solve the mystery. Rupert Graves (who had a small role at the beginning of his career in Good and Bad at Games) plays Shakespeare with tremendous feeling and humanity.