Trailer - SHAKESPEARE: The Truth Behind the Name

This is the official trailer for the documentary film, "SHAKESPEARE: The Truth Behind the Name." The full 99-minute film is a separate project here on Film Freeway.

WHO CREATED THE GREATEST WORKS OF IAMBIC THUNDER IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?!? "SHAKESPEARE: The Truth Behind the Name" is a fun yet important film: a costume filled journey into literary history's greatest mystery: Who really wrote the works of Shakespeare? This charming documentary is clearly a labor of love, which one can feel in every scene. The world needs it and bravo to Christina di Marlo for doing it!" -- Don Rubin, Professor Emeritus, York University Editor, World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre.

"Why was the most creative poet western civilization ever produced passed off as a commoner from a rustic village on the outskirts of London? And what drives an industry desperate to maintain this charade?

Christina de Marlo (AKA Robin Phillips) explores those four-hundred-year-old questions beguilingly in this romp through the lives of not one but two men, each of whom lived while Shakespeare’s works were being produced. One is that commoner we’ve long been indoctrinated into believing is the bard, but the other—the other was a staggeringly wealthy, astonishingly educated, high-born nobleman who just happened to know Queen Elizabeth I personally, intimately.

Both real people. Quite real. But only one was the author of the greatest works of courtly verse the world has ever seen. Sit back, watch, and let yourself be both charmed and enlightened by this royally entertaining film.

This is the cleverest, most succinct, and bonus -- most fun -- summation of the Shakespeare Authorship Question ever produced, bar none...1,000 kudos."
--Laird Williams, Author
Director Biography - Robin Phillips

  • Robin Phillips
    Director
  • Christina di Marlo (aka Robin Phillips)
    Writer
    "Agatha SINGS!," "The Music Halls of Paris 1900-1960," "Love Makes World Bank Go Round," "SELLING: You've Gotta Have Heart"
  • Art Harman
    Producer
    "Conservative Roundtable"
  • Robin Phillips
    Key Cast
    "“Narrator”"
  • Robin Phillips
    Co-Editors
  • Art Harman
    Co-Editors
    "Conservative Roundtable"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Trailer, Documentary, Feature Documentary, history, biographical
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 1 second
  • Completion Date:
    September 8, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    8,400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Around International Barcelona/ARFF
    Barcelona
    Spain
    Best Trailer
Director Biography - Robin Phillips


Robin Phillips‘ career tracks three paths: Performer; Writer; Producer. PERFORMER: singer, actress, narrator. WRITER: journalist, graphic artist; playwright, screenwriter. PRODUCER: cabaret, plays, film.

Member, National Press Club; Founding Member, National Speakers Association, DC Chapter (1983); Corporate Member, Women in Film and Video; Narrator/Living-Breathing-Subtitle for Opera Camerata in Washington, DC since 2013.

Her professional career began with a decade-long journey across Europe, studying with the greats at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Webber Douglas Academy in London, being coached by the finest voice masters in Bavaria, mastering fluent French and German along the way, performing continuously both as a singer and actress in the US and in Europe.

Of course, the fact that she was raised the daughter of a prominent American Diplomat in Europe, and was educated in Embassy schools and a university in Munich, ensured she had the experience and confidence to direct her own career. A “Citizen of the World,” Robin has lived, worked and studied for almost twelve years in Washington, DC, Bonn, Wiesbaden, Munich, London, Sydney, Ville Franche-Sur-Mer, Nice, Brussels, and Monte Carlo.

Returning to the US, she performed with the resident company of the critically-acclaimed Wooly Mammoth Theatre for two seasons, and also at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, etc. And worked in Public Relations in the Association market. She was a founding member of the DC Chapter of The National Speakers Association.

She became a journalist covering society and fashion for Washington Life, Quarante, The Magazine for the Woman Who Has Arrived, and Washington Entertainment, where she was also Editorial Director. She produced acting and commercial classes for the Panache modeling agency. She appeared as onscreen talent for Convention Network, Julian Bond, Anchor.

After not getting cast in one theatrical role, undaunted, Robin began producing and starring in her own Way Off Broadway shows -- “Love Makes The World Bank Go Round!” and “Selling: You’ve Gotta Have Heart!”

She was written up in the Washington Post as Producer of “An Evening in Vienna,” at the Mayflower Hotel before President Reagan’s entire Cabinet. Le Neon, the French American Theater Company, tapped Robin to play three roles: a French, a Spanish and a German cabaret singer in their `World Premiere of “Jules & Jim.”

Robin ran off with the rave reviews: “Robin Phillips is the reason to go see this play.” Sitting backstage she knew she could write a better play. This is when her shows evolved from ‘industrial theatre’ to full blown stage plays.

She researched, wrote and produced her first stage play, a musical review of the greatest French artistes of the 20th century: “Les Papillons de Nuit: The Music Halls of Paris, 1900-1960.” It was a smash hit, sold-out, success. The next critically-acclaimed play she wrote, produced and starred in, was “Agatha SINGS!”

RAVE REVIEWS FROM SOME OF THE PLAYS WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND STARRED IN BY ROBIN PHILLIPS:
“Researched and scripted by Robin Phillips, who also plays the role of Christie “Agatha SINGS!” is a theatrical and musical tour de force…In her portrayal of four stages in Agatha Christie’s life, her acting is even more impressive than her singing.”
--Joseph McLellan, The Washington Post

“There is no other show in town remotely like “Agatha SINGS,” a rich array of drama, comedy, mystery and music...It communicates its fascinating story with power and elegance...(Christie) considered singing her true vocation. This gives Phillips an opportunity to season the show with some 30 vocal numbers, keyed to the plot and including opera, lieder, folk music in several languages and popular songs from two thirds of the 20th century…(a) musical and theatrical tour de force.”
--Joseph McLellan, The Washington Post

“Phillips possesses a crystal-clear voice and a facile ability with various languages and dialects. The overall effect is marvelously engaging...The expression ‘tour de force’ accurately describes Phillips’ mastery of various musical styles but it does not adequately capture the intimate nature of the exploration of her subject...it is a one-of-a-kind evening of theater.”
--Michael Toscano, The Washington Post

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

How did this film come about? Since 1983 I've been writing, producing and starring in critically-acclaimed two-person plays (and musical stage productions) in the Washington, DC area.

My specialty was educating and entertaining my audiences at the same time. People would say, “What fun!” and “Wow, I didn’t know that!” in the same breath. Melding research and entertainment has been my specialty.

In my two-act, two-hour musical play about Agatha Christie, I played the mystery writer at four different ages. Two of the Washington Post reviewers called my play, “marvelously engaging…a musical and theatrical tour de force.”

Revered critic Joseph McLellan wrote, “There is no show in town remotely like “Agatha Sings,” a rich array of drama, comedy, mystery and music. . . It communicates its fascinating story with power and elegance.”

I used the same skills in creating this film. In 2016, I was captivated by Roland Emmerich's eye-opening film, “Anonymous.” Its driving assertion? The 'Man from Stratford' was not the true author of the works of Shakespeare. WHAT?!? This new idea was gripping. I was determined to discover the truth, so I did extensive research and wrote an entertaining stage show.

And so, after four months I had answered my own most burning questions and, in an intimate 65-seat theatre here in DC, I gave two performances of a fun and lively "Shakespeare" stage show, with props, costumes and visuals. In the audience were members of the Shakespeare Group from the revered Cosmos Club. They called it, "Scholarship brushed with humor.” To that I added, “and costumes and sex.”

It was so successful that I was asked to take it to the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Conference in Chicago. Too complicated. A logistical nightmare. So, I filmed it instead and took the next four years of research and writing and more filming -- quick study! --to transform that stage show into my first film, a 99-minute documentary, “Behind the Name SHAKESPEARE; Power, Lust, Scorn & Scandal.”

Cordially,

Robin Phillips (pen-name Christina di Marlo)