William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the world’s most talented playwrights. His works have been performed all over the globe countless times and will continue to be for centuries. But what if Shakespeare wasn’t the man who we all know him as? What if he never wrote any plays or poetry or anything? What if he was just another mediocre actor who managed to be in the right place at the right time?

Anonymous explores the possibility familiar with Shakespeare conspiracy theorists that the man never wrote any of Hamlet, Julius Caesar, or Romeo and Juliet. The man who supposedly did write them was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Since poetry and other forms of creative writing were considered the world of the devil at the time, he had to write in secrecy. In an effort to get his plays out in the public eye, he gets a young playwright, Ben Jonson, to perform them. While it may all seem fun an innocent, Edward has some ulterior motives behind his works; he wants to use the power of words to insight an uprising against the right hand man of Queen Elizabeth. Things really start to get interesting when one of Jonson's actors, William Shakespeare, takes all the credit for the plays.

The film itself is a play within a play as it begins on stage in present day New York. We’re then transported back to the Elizabethan era and the time of Shakespeare. If you’re a fan of his, whether you believe this authorship theory or not, you’ll enjoy the film. While it does tend to bend some of the facts, it greatly features many of the works of the famous playwright and the characters associated with him. Even the film itself feels like it came from the quill of Shakespeare himself. There’s suspense, forbidden romance, treason, and many other elements we’ve come to recognize Shakespeare for. In that manner, the film is a little predictable to those familiar with his works.

Like many films out of this same time period, Anonymous can be somewhat confusing in that it’s difficult to keep track of what’s going on and who’s who. To make matters worse, it likes to jump around time periods from when Edward was just a teen to when he’s the Earl of Oxford. You’ll catch on eventually but prepare to take some mental notes, or you may end up confusing one person for another.

Still, Anonymous is more entertaining than most period pieces in that it captures your interest from the start and doesn’t let up until the end. Seeing as the film is a little over two hours in length, that’s a pretty difficult thing to do. Both those familiar with Shakespeare’s work and those who just know of him will find something to learn in this fictional exploration of a not so well known myth. Regardless of whether Shakespeare was a fraud or not, Anonymous delivers a thrilling tale similar to his best works.

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