Calvin Hoffman (died 1987) was an American theater press agent and writer who popularized the controversial notion that playwright Christopher Marlowe was the actual author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. The idea that someone other than the William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon wrote the plays attributed to him did not originate with Hoffman (see Shakespearean authorship) and Hoffman was not the first to suggest Marlowe. Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Christopher (Kit) Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593?) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon is a town in Warwickshire, England. ... The frontispiece of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of Shakespeares plays From 1593 to 1637, a number of plays and poems were published under the name William Shakespeare or, in many cases, hyphenated as Shake-Speare. The company that performed most of these plays, the Lord...

A recent film by Michael Rubbo, Much Ado About Something (released 2001) provides a relatively detailed outline of Hoffman's theory. Hoffman's complete Marlowe theory can be found in his book "The Murder of The Man Who Was Shakespeare". Published in 1955, it is long out of print. Like other alternate Shakespearean authorship theories, Hoffman's claims have been largely dismissed by mainstream Shakespearean scholars. Michael Dattilo Rubbo (born 31 December 1938) is an Australian filmmaker who has written and directed over 50 films in documentary and fiction. ...

Calvin Hoffman's basic Marlowe-as-Shakespeare theory can be outlined as follows:-1...

1. Various details of the life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon make it extremely unlikely that he was the author of the works attributed to him.
2. Shakespeare seems to suddenly appear on the scene with no prior works at approximately age 30 almost immediately after Christopher "Kit" Marlowe supposedly died.
3. Marlowe did not die at Deptford on 30 May 1593. He faked his death because the Privy council was planning to hand him over to Archbishop John Whitgift and his Star Chamber. The details of this alleged plot are outlined in the "Marlowe's death" section of the Christopher Marlowe article.
4. Marlowe escaped, likely by boat down the Thames, to Italy where he lived on for many years. He continued to write, sending plays and sonnets back to England where they were presented to the public by one William Shakespeare, who was merely a front man.

Hoffman listed hundreds of alleged similarities between the works of Marlowe and Shakespeare. Calling them "parallelisms", he claimed they were clear evidence that Marlowe and Shakespeare were one and the same. This article is about the district in London. ... Events May 18 - Playwright Thomas Kyds accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. ... A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, especially in a monarchy. ... John Whitgift (c. ... The Star Chamber (Latin Camera stellata) was an English court of law at the royal Palace of Westminster that sat between 1487 and 1641, when the court itself was abolished. ... Christopher (Kit) Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593?) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. ...

Hoffman and his wife bequeathed funds for an annual prize, administered by King's School, Canterbury, for an essay on the subject of Marlowe and the Shakespearean authorship question. The Canterbury Cathedral and Kings School The Kings School in Canterbury, Kent, is a co-educational public school with boarding and day pupils. ...

External links

• The Marlowe Society
• John Baker's Marlowe/Shakespeare site

• Chichester Festival Theatre I Am Shakespeare Webcam Daytime Chat-Room Show by Mark Rylance. A new production by former Artistic Director of The Globe Theatre on the Shakespeare authorship debate.