Upstart Crow

Episode one sees Will struggle to find inspiration for Romeo while having to deal with an angry actor, a very annoying house-guest and his family’s not terribly helpful script suggestions.

Will hopes to move up in the world when he is invited to a high-society party hosted by Lord Southampton, but is unsure what a poorly-educated country boy should wear to one of Londons most upmarket events. The playwrights rival Sir Robert Greene offers him some fashion tips, but is it a double bluff, a triple bluff, or something even more fiendish?

The plague leads Will and his friends to escape to the family home in Stratford. On the way, they meet three witches who have some surprising predictions to make about Will’s future, leading to a very serious case of house envy.

When a dashing African Prince comes to town, Will decides to befriend him.

Will has to write a romance set in an exotic foreign location Kate has fallen for Marlowe.

The women in Wills life are not impressed with his play about a strong woman humiliated.

Will needs inspiration for his new play A Midsummer Nights Dream. Meanwhile how can he get hold of some love potion, and where is Bottom going to put that stuffed donkey head?

London is full of anti-immigrant rioting. Will looks forward to an age when such sentiments are long-gone, but in the meantime he and the players plan to do their bit to help those worse off than themselves with a fund-raising charity gala night. “Inflated Pigs Bladder Day” is a triumph.

Wills troupe plot against each other, but his defusing of the situation helps give him a better idea for his new play about Julius Caesar.