The Boston Globe recently proclaimed Cheryl Eagan-Donovan’s documentary Nothing is Truer than Truth more “level-headed” than the 2011 film Anonymous on the subject of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and the Shakespeare Authorship Question. Globe correspondent Peter Keogh said that Eagan-Donovan’s “investigation led her to Venice, Verona, Mantua, Padua, and Brenta, Italy, which are settings for The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Two Gentlemen of Verona. They’re also cities visited by de Vere in his lifetime of louche* pursuits. And could the name ‘Shake-spear’ be a ribald, punning allusion to de Vere’s bisexuality? Interviews with actors Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, and stage directors Diane Paulus and Tina Packer, add credibility to the theory.” Nothing is Truer than Truth was widely released in multiple formats on February 12, 2019.
This is among the many press mentions that the Shakespeare Authorship Question and the SOF have continued to receive since Steven Sabel became the SOF’s PR Director in late 2018. For example, Sabel’s report on Professor Bryan Wildenthal’s introductory SAQ lecture at the Karpeles Library in Santa Barbara was published in Noozhawk. The article quoted Professor Wildenthal as saying: “It is often claimed that no one doubted the Stratfordian authorship theory until hundreds of years after his death. But when it comes to evidence dating to his own lifetime, there is none that explicitly and personally links Shakspere of Stratford to any literary career.” This followed upon an SAQ article in the Santa Barbara News-Press that dominated the front page with a huge picture of Edward de Vere.
The SAQ even received an unexpected mention in the Wall Street Journal in a March 7 story by sports reporter Jason Gay, writing on the National Football League draft:
Last year, a lot of us got fired up that UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen was too smart for football—that Rosen’s brain was just so inquisitive, he couldn’t possibly focus in the way we need him to focus.
When a quarterback drops back in the pocket, you want him to focus on completions. You don’t want him scanning the field, daydreaming over whether or not Edward de Vere actually wrote Shakespeare’s plays.
Delaware’s Cape Gazette touted Bob Meyers, President Emeritus of the National Press Foundation, as a speaker on the Authorship Question in the Delaware area. Steven Sabel was quoted as saying:
The world loves a great mystery, and this is one of the greatest mysteries of all time. The evidence against the man from Stratford being the author continues to build and grow year after year, and people are interested in learning the truth.
Speaking of Bob Meyers, his Authorship lecture at the Arlington, Virginia Kiwanis Club was covered in the Arlington Connection. “Meyers presented a fascinating speech to a crowd of 35 members,” said Linda Chandler, president-elect of Arlington Kiwanis. “His presentation style was fabulous, laying out his premise of the profile of the real author.”
The Gilmer Mirror in northeast Texas profiled Bonner Miller Cutting as an Authorship speaker available in that state.
And Rachel Christian of the Osceola News-Gazette in Florida described the SOF’s Speakers Bureau program and promoted theatre director Ron Song Destro as an available speaker in the Orlando area.
If you’d like to have a speaker on the Authorship Question in your area, contact Steven Sabel at: publicity@shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org.
If you would like to contribute to the SOF’s publicity efforts, you may make a donation at: https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/product/donations/. Your donations will help keep that favorable press coming!
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*louche: disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way
