Celebrating Shakespeare – but who was he?

The debate as to who wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare is coming to Orkney this evening, with a fundraising concert in Kirkwall.

Disputes concerning the true authorship of the plays and sonnets have been around since the middle of the 19th century.

Among theatre professionals and academics debate rages still, such as the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition, which has produced a Declaration of Reasonable Doubt, signed by many leading academics.

The most popular theory of an alternative author relates to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

Tonight, in a special evening of choral music and verse with a Shakespeare theme, hosted by The Mayfield Singers, Kristin Linklater, signatory to the Declaration and creator of the Kristin Linklater Voice Centre, in Quoyloo, will talk about why she is an “Oxfordian,” and deliver some excerpts of Shakespeare’s text.

The Mayfield Singers will also sing settings of Shakespeare, including arrangements by American composer Matthew Harris and Vaughan Williams.

The concert, which will raise funds for the Orkney Kidney Patients’ Association, take place in the St Magnus Centre and begins at 7.30pm.