Upstart | Crow - Season 4eps1

The King is delighted—not by the play, but by the fact that it was so short he didn't even have time to finish his drumstick. Will earns a single gold coin and a stern warning never to mention "Denmark" again.

"Will," she says, leaning against the doorframe with a look of weary exasperation, "just have the prince fall in love with the hat. It’s concise, it’s dramatic, and most importantly, the King can be back in his chambers for his evening sack-posset in twenty minutes."

Will attempts to perform the "Hat Play" for the King. In a classic Upstart Crow blunder, Bottom accidentally wears the King’s actual ceremonial cloak as a costume, leading to a high-speed chase through the Globe Theatre that Will eventually rebrands as a "new dramatic device called 'Slap-stick.'" Upstart Crow - Season 4Eps1

Robert Greene’s ghost (metaphorically) haunts Will as he discovers a pamphlet titled The Even More Upstart Crow , written by a young up-and-comer named "John Fletcher" who is shamelessly using Will’s own "puffling pants" jokes.

King James I has demanded a new play, but he has one specific, baffling requirement: it must be "shorter than a sneeze" because his royal gout makes sitting for long periods unbearable. Will is mid-existential crisis. He has written a sprawling epic about a Danish prince with "too many feelings," but the King wants a punchy comedy about a man who loses his hat in a gale. The King is delighted—not by the play, but

Since a fourth season was never officially recommissioned by the BBC, here is an original story imagining how might have opened, following the events of the heartbreaking Series 3 finale and the plague-bound 2020 special. 🖋️ Title: "The King's New Cloak"

Back in Stratford, Anne is unimpressed by Will’s "literary immortality" and sends a letter demanding he return home because the roof is leaking and the "great barn" has been infested by particularly literate owls. It’s concise, it’s dramatic, and most importantly, the

Shakespeare’s London lodgings. It is 1605. Will is frantically scrubbing a stain off his ruff while Bottom attempts to "modernize" a quill by attaching a heavy lead weight to it.