—By Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/23/17 – “We are at war–and our only weapons are words!” Thus speaks playwright William Shakespeare in the new TNT costume drama WILL that aired on Monday, July 10th, 2017 at 9|8c and will run in this time slot for a total of ten episodes.
It’s 1589, a time of religious turmoil in Protestant England, where to be a Catholic could mean a death sentence. 24-year-old William Shakespeare (Laurie Davidson) feels caught between two worlds, two faiths, and two women in his quest for money, power, and greatness–but above all, freedom!
While “cowards die many times,” Will decides that is better to die on his feet than to live on his knees and make common men kings on the stage at least. He is joined by the equally rebellious Alice (Olivia DeJonge) in a star-crossed “marriage of true minds”.
Risking everything, Will plunges into the wonder-filled world of Elizabethan theater along with Richard and James Burbage (Mattias Inwood and Colm Meaney). Will and his troupe of talented misfits must at all times battle the authorities, rival theaters, and a fickle, sometimes riotous public.
WILL uses modern music and contemporary style to tell Shakespeare’s early life story, about which little is known. His contemporaries today would be rock stars or rappers!
Other players include Jamie Campbell Bower, considered to be one of Britain’s brightest young stars, as equally brilliant and provocative rival playwright Christopher Marlowe and Jasmin Savoy Brown as Emilia Bassano, the “Dark Lady” of William Shakespeare’s sonnets and one of the most desired women in all of London who goes on to become the first professional female English poet. WILL‘s stellar Executive Producers include Craig Pearce, Alison Owen, Debra Hayward, Vince Gerardis, Howard Braunstein and Louise Rosager, and Shekhar Kapur, who also directed the series.
