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To Be, Or Not To Be

Photo courtesy of Berkeley Prep

Mike Rubbo explains the history behind Vincent Van Gogh's "First Steps" painting to a group of kindergarten students at Berkeley Preparatory School last month. Rubbo, an Australian filmmaker, won an Emmy for his children's movie about Van Gogh, "Vincent and Me."

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

cpastor@tampatrib.com

Published: March 4, 2009

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - A playwright and possible spy gets into so much trouble he fakes his own death and goes into hiding, communicating with the outside world through plays and sonnets under a nobody's name who becomes world-renowned.

It's a conspiracy theory worthy of a Shakespearean drama - or a Marlovian one, if you're in the Christopher Marlowe camp.

Emmy-winning filmmaker Mike Rubbo visited Berkeley Preparatory School recently to delve into the debate on who wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. Troubled by skimpy facts on Shakespeare's life, researchers and scholars have argued that someone else, possibly Marlowe, could have penned Shakespeare's work.

Rubbo explored it in his 2002 PBS Frontline documentary "Much Ado About Something." Rubbo, who is from Australia, met with Berkeley students Feb. 19 to talk to them about Shakespeare, the creative process and Vincent Van Gogh, the topic of another of his films. The private school also held a screening of "Much Ado About Something" for families, faculty and local college staff.

He sat in front of dozens of Advanced Placement English students, dressed in a straw hat and coveralls spattered with paint from his earlier Van Gogh discussions. For about an hour, he fielded teens' questions about nailing down difficult interviews, who he thought authored the plays and the evidence supporting his beliefs.

Berkeley English teacher Carlo DiNota edits a blog on the "Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection" and interviewed Rubbo for the Web site. They began communicating regularly through e-mail, which led to his Berkeley visit.

Rubbo has directed more than 40 documentaries, with topics ranging from Shakespeare to Vietnam to facelifts. His "Waiting for Fidel," about a team of Canadians trying to land an interview with Fidel Castro, is part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

"I believe," DiNota said, "although I don't know if he does, that his masterpiece is 'Waiting for Fidel.'

"

Rubbo shrugged. "I'm just contrary," he said. "If you said that, I'll just say something else."

He won a Daytime Emmy for his 1990 fiction film "Vincent and Me," a children's movie about a young girl who paints like Van Gogh. Rubbo's mother was an artist, and Rubbo thought the movie would feel more authentic if he replicated the Van Gogh works by hand instead of using prints.

He duplicated them, stroke by stroke, and felt relieved when they turned out well.

"This is like Vincent giving me permission to do his film," Rubbo said.

He brought that talent with him to Berkeley, visiting classrooms and painting for the students, while talking with them about Van Gogh. He completed a replica of the well-known "Starry Night," which will stay on the Kelly Road campus as a gift to the school.

His Shakespeare interest grew out of a fascination for conspiracy theories, and he found himself swayed to Marlowe's side during his research.

The Marlowe theory is based on the thought that Marlowe might not have died in 1593. He could have faked his death to escape troubles and had friends smuggle him out of England. Unable to reveal his identity, he continued to write plays but did it under Shakespeare's name.

Rubbo envisions him frustrated, writing the sonnets, many of which carry themes of exile and wanting to return home, Rubbo and DiNota said.

Students asked what it would take to firm up the Marlowe theory. Rubbo said the key would be proving that Marlowe did not die as reported. Students also wanted to find out if Rubbo heard from people who changed their minds after seeing the documentary and roadblocks he encountered in the filming.

It was difficult getting Shakespearean scholars on tape, Rubbo said. Most of them want to "starve (the theory) of oxygen by refusing to discuss it," he said.

Senior Gabrielle Sena, 18, said she had been leaning toward the Marlowe camp before meeting Rubbo. The filmmaker's description of how it could have happened and what Marlowe's exile would have been like made the theory more convincing, she said.

Last month she also heard from the other side. She met Stephen Greenblatt, author of the Shakespeare biography "Will in the World" at a book signing in New York. She asked Greenblatt what he thought of the Marlowe possibility. Greenblatt responded that Marlowe was a bit of a jerk.

Sena now is reading Greenblatt's book but told Rubbo she wasn't convinced. The descriptions of his early life are based on conjecture, Sena said, drawing conclusions based on what is known about the time because few records exist about Shakespeare himself.

"It's very vague," she said.

EXPLORE THE DEBATE Berkeley Preparatory School teacher Carlo DiNota maintains a blog on Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and the debate over Shakespeare's plays. The blog includes interviews and essays, recommended reading and excerpts of "Much Ado About Something." The blog is at www.marlowe-shake speare.blogspot.com.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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