In Elizabethan England, Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans) has been covertly testing out his talents as a playwright. While it would be unbecoming for a man of his standing to put his name to such a frivolous pursuit, de Vere could bring his plays, and political message, to the masses if he were to do so anonymously.
Recruiting commoner Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) to be the face of his writing, their plan is quickly appropriated by loose-cannon actor William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), who publicly lays claim to all of de Vere's work. However, with de Vere's political meddling, and Shakespeare's revelling in the attention, stark consequences soon emerge for anyone who gets close to the secret.
With a track record in disaster epics such as The Day After Tomorrow and 2012, Anonymous is something of a curveball from Roland Emmerich, though he does inject this historical tale with plenty of his trademark bombast.
Though his drama-cum-thriller plays hard and fast with the facts, Emmerich has a talented cast in his favour with Ifans, Spall and Vanessa Redgrave delivering broadly entertainingly performances.
Anonymous is a Film programme that first aired in 2011 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
