William Shakespeare wrote Henry VI with rival Marlowe

Three of William Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays were written in collaboration with his Elizabethan rival Christopher Marlowe, according to experts who suggest that contribution of other writers in some of the Bard’s iconic plays is largely underestimated.

Henry VI, Parts One, Two and Three are among as many as 17 plays that scholars now believe contain writing by other people, sometimes several hands. “The orthodox view was that Shakespeare didn’t collaborate at all. When the Oxford Shakespeare in 1986 proposed that eight plays of Shakespeare contained writing by other writers, some people were outraged,” said Gary Taylor from Florida State University in the US.

“In 1986, eight of 39 plays were identified on their title pages as collaborative, a little more than 20 per cent. In 2016, 17 of 44 plays are identified, a little more than 38 per cent, close to two-fifths,” said Taylor, who is among the 23 academics from five countries who completed the research. Some are said to be collaborations, with Shakespeare working side-by-side with other writers, as with Marlowe on Henry VI, the Guardian reported. Others are adaptations, where additions were made to works before their printed publication.