Waste Of Shame

The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets

Published in 1609, William Shakespeare’s collection of 154 sonnets comprises the greatest lyric sequence of poems in world literature. At the centre of this sonnet sequence lies a mystery that has endured for 400 years. 126 of these sonnets are addressed to a “Fair Youth” (Tom Sturridge – Pirate Radio) and 26 are addressed to a “Dark Lady” (Indira Varma – Rome). What fair youth inspired such passion and who was Shakespeare’s dark lady?

A Waste of Shame is a lushly filmed, intriguing drama about the passionate and destructive love triangle that consumed Shakespeare (Rupert Graves – V for Vendetta) in his troubled middle years – adapting some of the most celebrated, sexual, raw and venomous love poems ever written. A graphic depiction of 16th Century English life, exhibiting the filth, the plague and the bawdy promiscuity, the drama also stars Zoë Wanamaker (My Family) and Anna Chancellor (MI-5).