Roland Emmerich’s movie, which stars Vanessa Redgrave, Rhys Ifans and Joely Richardson, suggests the famed playwright was not the true author of his works, and the film has angered many Shakespeare fans.
Campaigners have covered a memorial to The Bard with a sheet in his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, while a number of pub and road signs featuring his name have been scrawled out in an attempt to remind people of Shakespeare’s legacy.
Dr Paul Edmondson, head of knowledge and research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, tells the BBC, “This film flies in the face of a mass of historical fact, but there is a risk that people who have never questioned the authorship of Shakespeare’s works could be hoodwinked.
“Shakespeare is at the core of England’s cultural and historical DNA, and he is certainly our most famous export. (This) activity barely scratches the surface, but we hope it will remind people of the enormous legacy we owe to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon.”
