Direct from the Fringe Festivals of Hollywood, Avignon, and Edinburgh, Will & Company brings its hit production of Not Without Right: Shakespeare’s Secrets to the Melbourne Fringe this October.
Shakespeare works in his attic, amending his will – to protect his daughter from her gold-digging husband – when, to his chagrin, his Muse materialises and demands he share with the audience the ‘true’ story of his life. “Why?” Will grumpily demands.
“Because they’re going to say they’re not yours,” she responds. “The only way to prove to them [the audience] you write the plays is to reveal what it cost you to create them, and where the secrets of your life lie hidden in the scripts.”
What follows is a bruising battle between author and inspiration as to what really did happen.
Created by the multi-award winning Los Angeles-based, theatre ensemble Will & Company, Not Without Right: Shakespeare’s Secrets opened in June 2025 as part of the Hollywood Fringe. Following its successful run in Los Angeles, it transferred to the Avignon Off Festival, and subsequently to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Shakespeare is performed by Los Angeles based, Will & Company Artistic Director, noted Shakespeare professor and director, Colin Cox. The Muse is realised by Mexico City born actress Alessandra Mañón.
In a recent interview, in the French paper La Provence, when asked why they had undertaken to tour the world with this production, Cox responded, “I’m sick of the snobbery that attests a seventh-grade dropout could not have written these plays.”
Mañón’s response, “The more I learned about him the more I wanted to protect his legacy.” Both actors, dedicated Stratfordians, are determined that the world, once and for all, understand that Will wrote Will.
Hailed by critics and reviewers in all three festivals, the La Beat heralded the production, “Colin Cox and Alessandra Manon put on a master class on the nature of truth, what it means to pursue a dream, and how art can only be created by someone pouring their very self into their work.”
“Not Without Right doesn’t just argue that Shakespeare wrote the plays—it shows us why it matters that he did, and how stories still find new breath through fresh eyes and open hearts.” – Fringe Review (Edinburgh)
Not Without Right: Shakespeare’s Secrets
Bard’s Apothecary, 7/24 Crossley Street, Melbourne
Season: 30 September – 18 October 2025
Information and Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Image: Colin Cox and Alessandra Mañón to star in Not Without Right: Shakespeare’s Secrets (supplied)