The Willing: A New Musical Workshop Presentation

It's 1794 and London can’t get enough Shakespeare! 19-year-old William Henry Ireland, grappling with teen angst, depression, social anxiety due to his loveless father, discovers solace and inspiration through the timeless words of William Shakespeare. He resolves to emulate the Immortal Bard and prove himself. When his clever Shakespeare forgery scheme leads him down the rabbit hole, William Henry finds himself navigating a whirlwind scandal while grappling with the consequences of his deception, all set against the backdrop of the crazy world of the London Theater!

At its heart, The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare is not merely about a 1790s literary hoax — it’s about a boy’s desperate need to be seen, a father’s hunger for status and recognition, and a society so eager to believe what it desires to see — Shakespeare’s “lost” works — that it blinds itself to truth. It is the folly of The Emperor’s New Clothes, retold in quills and ink. These are timeless themes — and painfully current ones.