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SHAKESPEARE'S DARK LADY

By Daniel FRIDELL

Romance - Production 2017

A film which explores the theory that the 'Dark Lady' in Shakespeare's love sonnets is actually a black woman.

'Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.'

-William Shakespeare Dark Lady Sonnet 132

- Year of production
- 2017
- Genres
- Romance, Art - Culture, Documentary
- Countries
- USA, UNITED KINGDOM
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Director(s)
- Daniel FRIDELL
- Writer(s)
- Kira Madallo SESAY
- Producer(s)
- Kira Madallo SESAY (KALLIOPE FILMS)
- Synopsis
- A historical documentary film which explores the evidence that the mysterious Dark Lady in Shakespeare's Love Sonnets is actually a black British woman. The film investigates this theory against the backdrop of the influx of freed slaves into Elizabethan England during their conflict with Spain. Queen Elizabeth authorized English pirates, nicknamed her "Sea Dogs' to seize Spanish ships, many of which were carrying black slaves. At the time, slavery was illegal in England. Consequently, the black slaves were freed as soon as they set foot on English soil. They intermixed with the community and appeared in all aspects of Elizabethan society. Many interracial marriages are also recorded in the archives of Elizabethan London. The film explores how Shakespeare's art imitated life ('Othello') in the diverse multicultural England of his time.
  
  'In the old age black was not counted fair
  Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name
  But now is black beauty’s successive heir
  ...That every tongue says beauty should look so'
  
  -William Shakespeare Dark Lady Sonnet 127