The Tudor scandal that threatened a family dynasty

This thrilling play by Peter Whelan takes on the true life scandal that surrounded the daughter of the world's greatest playwright. Already critically acclaimed on Broadway and in the West End, we follow the story of Susannah Hall, who was accused of adultery in 1613. With her reputation and that of her family on the line, the trial that takes place threatens to rip apart a tight-knit community and ruin the name of Shakespeare forever.

Now staged at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, discover how a family's reputation can be made or broken, based on the virtue of its women in Tudor times.

The original events saw Susannah defamed by John Lane, Jr, who accused her of giving him a venereal disease after a supposed affair with another man, a haberdasher called Rafe Smith. Later disproven in court, Lane was outed as a drunk and untrustworthy, with his actions believed to have political motives.