In modern day New York City, an actor (Derek Jacobi) arrives at a theater where he delivers a monologue Shakespeare authorship question the lack of manuscript writings of William Shakespeare, despite the undeniable fact that he is the most performed playwright of all time. Ben Jonson is making ready to enter the stage. The narrator Fourth wall to take the viewers into a different story behind the origin of Shakespeare's plays: "one of quills and swords, of power and betrayal, of a stage conquered and a throne lost."