Cardenio

Of the many mysteries surrounding William Shakespeare — Was that his real name? Did he use a quill or a word processor to write? What were his thoughts on ruffled collars? — one of the more interesting possibilities is the fate of his play Cardenio. Oxford's Bodleian Library has proof it was staged in 1612, but then it seemingly disappeared. A version of it supposedly surfaced in 1727 when an editor was given the play's manuscript by a man who worked in the theater; after reshaping it, the editor presented it under the title The Double Falsehood. What is known for a certainty is that Cardenio was inspired by a story found in Don Quixote about a man who is betrayed in love by a friend, which causes our hero Cardenio to go live in the hollow of a cork tree in the Spanish mountains. Gregory Doran, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, attempted to wrangle all these threads together in a complete version of the play. Some of it is from Shakespeare, some from Shakey's frequent collaborator John Fletcher, some from Cervantes and some of it is written fresh this century to hold the thing together. St. Louis Shakespeare presents the lost and found play Cardenio at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (October 6 to 15) at the Ivory Theatre (7620 Michigan Avenue; www.stlshakespeare.org). Tickets are $15 to $20.