Today is the traditional birthday of William Shakespeare (see our earlier article about him here). Recent years have been exciting ones for Shakespearean scholarship. Computer analysis has been enormously helpful in helping to ascertain the authorship of unattributed or misattributed writings. And the internet has greatly assisted in communication among scholars throughout the world. One of the exciting revelations of recent years has been the degree to which the Elizabethan theatre was collaborative. It turns out to have been much more like Hollywood than most of us previously thought, with very often several hands contributing to drafting and rewriting scripts, just as is the common practice today. As a result, the list of plays in which Shakespeare may have a hand has grown considerably, as has the list of authors who had a hand in plays previously considered to have been written solely by Shakespeare. Presently, the list looks something like this:
Edmund Ironside: A play about King Edmund II, plausibly argued by some as Shakespeare’s first play, 1587
Sir Thomas More: Written by Anthony Monday and Henry Chettle circa 1592-1593, with revisions by Dekker, Heywood and Shakespeare ca. 1596. The revised manuscript contains the only example of Shakespeare’s playwriting in his own hand
The Spanish Tragedy: Written by Thomas Kyd, ca. 1582-1592. Kyd died in 1594. Shakespeare added additional material ca. 1598, per scholar Douglas Bruster (2013)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589–1591)
Fair Em, The Miller’s Daughter of Manchester: (1590) Shakespeare may be the author
The Taming of the Shrew (1590–1591)
Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (1591): by Shakespeare and Marlowe, according to oxford
Titus Andronicus (1591–1592): By Shakespeare and George Peele
Arden of Faversham (1592): Shakespeare possibly wrote some of it.
Richard III (1592–1593)
Thomas of Woodstock: A kind of prequel to Richard II. Some feel Shakespeare wrote it or was otherwise involved.
Edward III (1592–1593) Shakespeare and Kyd
A Knack to Know a Knave: ca 1594, Shakespeare may have written part of it
The Comedy of Errors (1594)
Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594–1595)
Love’s Labour’s Won (1595–1596): The famous lost play, possibly known to us by another title, such as Much Ado About Nothing
Richard II (1595)
Romeo and Juliet (1595)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595)
Locrine: (1595) Possibly written by Peele or Greene, with revisions by Shakespeare
King John (1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596–1597)
Henry IV, Part 1 (1596–1597)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597)
Henry IV, Part 2 (1597–1598)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–1599)
Mucedorus: (1598) Some feel Shakespeare may have played a minor role in its creation
Henry V (1599)
Julius Caesar (1599)
As You Like It (1599–1600)
Hamlet (1599–1601)
Twelfth Night (1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1600–1602)
Thomas Lord Cromwell (1602): Most scholars think Shakespeare wasn’t involved in any way, but there are a couple who do
Measure for Measure (1603–1604): Possibly revised by Middleton
Othello (1603–1604)
All’s Well That Ends Well (1604–1605)–Possibly with Middleton
King Lear (1605–1606)
Timon of Athens: (1605–1606) Possibly with Middleton
The London Prodigal: (1605) Published under Shakespeare’s name, but some doubt it. He may have written an outline of the plot with someone else writing the lines
Macbeth (1606): Possibly revised slightly by Middleton
Antony and Cleopatra (1606)
Pericles, Prince of Tyre: (1607–1608) Written with George Wilkins
The Puritan: (1607) Probably by Middleton but some think Shakespeare.
Coriolanus (1608)
A Yorkshire Tragedy: (1608) Published as Shakespeare’s but most think Middleton
The Merry Devil of Edmonton: (1608) Shakespeare may have played minor role in its creation
The Winter’s Tale (1609–1611)
Cymbeline (1610)
The Tempest (1610–1611)
Cardenio (1612–1613) Thereby hangs a tale! A play by Shakespeare and Fletcher referred to in many documents, but thought lost for centuries, and supposed to be an adaptation of a yarn taken from Don Quixote. At least two plays have emerged which have been claimed to have actually been Cardenio. One is Double Falsehood. In 1727, Lewis Theobold first presented this play, claiming that he took it from three manuscripts of an unnamed lost Shakespeare play. A couple of prominent published editions now credit it this way. Another play, called The Second Maiden’s Tragedy, has also been claimed to be Cardenio, and has been both published and produced advertising that supposition
Henry VIII: (1612–1613) Co-written with Fletcher
The Two Noble Kinsmen:(1613-1614) Co-written with Fletcher
