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Phillip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the
theatre business. The natural condition is one
of insurmountable obstacles on the road to
imminent disaster.
Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?
Phillip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out
well.
Hugh Fennyman: How?
Phillip Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.
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Burbage: The Master of the Revels despises us for vagrants,
tinkers and peddlers of bombast. But my father, James
Burbage, had the first license to make a company of
players from Her Majesty, and he drew from poets the
literature of the age. Their fame will be our fame. So
let them all know, we are men of parts. We are a
brotherhood, and we will be a profession. Will
Shakespeare has a play. I have a theatre. The Curtain is
yours.
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Fennyman: A moment, sir!
Alleyn: Who are you?
Fennyman: I am the money!
Alleyn: Then you may remain so long as you remain silent.
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[Dropping Mr. Henslowe's feet into hot coals.]
Hugh Fennyman: Do you know what happens to a man who doesn't pay
his debts, Mr. Henslowe? His boots catch fire!
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Lord Wessex: I have spoken to your father.
Viola: I speak to him every day, sir.
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Shakespeare: I have a new play.
Marlowe: What's it called?
Shakespeare: Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter.
Marlowe: What is the story?
Shakespeare: Well, there's this pirate...
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[Whispering at Viola's bedroom door.]
Nurse: Madame, the house is stirring. It is a new day.
Viola: It is a new WORLD.
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Queen Elizabeth: Use my name with care, sir, lest you may wear it
out!
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[Authorizing Lord Wessex to marry Viola.]
Queen Elizabeth: Have her, then, but you're a lordly fool. She's
been plucked since I saw her last -- and not by
you. It takes a woman to know these things.
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[After sex.]
Viola De Lesseps: I would not have thought it: there IS something
better than a play!
Will Shakespeare: There is.
Viola De Lesseps: Even your play.
Will Shakespeare: Hmm?
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Lord Wessex: I cannot shed blood in her house, but I will cut your
throat anon. What is your name?
Will Shakespeare: Christopher Marlowe, at your service.
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Lord Wessex: Is she obedient?
Sir Robert de Lesseps: As any mule in Christendom -- but if you
are the man to ride her, there are rubies
in the saddlebag.
Lord Wessex: I like her!
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Tilney: That woman is a woman!
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Lord Wessex: Madam, the tide waits for no man, but I swear it
would wait for you.
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[as Thomas Kent]
Viola de Lesseps: Tell me how you love her, Will.
Will Shakespeare: Like a sickness and its cure together.
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Queen Elizabeth: I know something of a woman in a man's
profession. Yes, I know something about that.
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[On first hearing the tragic ending to Romeo and Juliet.]
Philip Henslowe: That'll have them rolling in the aisles.
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Philip Henslowe: The show must...
[prompting him]
William Shakespeare: Go on!