Shakespeare's Apprentice

William Shakespeare is a successful playwright living in old London. He’s smart, he’s funny, and he’s got the world at his fingertips. He’s the Stephen King of his day and everyone wants to be him. So what does he do? He gives someone a chance. In what many deem as a medieval publicity stunt, Shakespeare announces that he will pick someone to be his apprentice. Everyone in London is eligible, and wherever Shakespeare goes, people try to stand out. However, Shakespeare soon proves remarkably picky about whom he will take on.

Then, one day at the local fishmarket, Shakespeare sees Corbin Mantruck. He’s dirty, he’s poor, and he speaks in iambic pentameter. He’s perfect. Shakespeare has found his apprentice. Shakespeare makes Corbin Mantruck bathe, take that hat off, and then he begins to teach him the ways of the playwright.

It’s a huge surprise when we find that Corbin is an exceptional apprentice playwright. He soon begins writing plays that Shakespeare could only dream of writing. Though Mantruck’s plays aren’t in iambic pentameter, Shakespeare is stunned to see that they are, in fact, in diambic decameter and triambic pentakaidecameter. Corbin’s plays are so good that only William Shakespeare is able to appreciate them fully. It’s Good Will Hunting all over again.

But Shakespeare has grown used to wealth, celebrity, and velvet clothes. He’s long been known as the greatest playwright that ever lived and now he’s scared to give it up. And while Corbin Mantruck locks himself up in a room and continues writing plays, Shakespeare puts on Mantruck’s plays as if they were his own.

England loves the new plays and all the shows sell out except the first one. Shakespeare becomes even more famous and wealthy as the new plays have even more explosions, nudity, and swears, all of which leave audiences gasping for more.

Shakespeare knows he’s living a lie though, and his fame becomes empty and his riches become worthless. And boy does he start drinking. Though he receives Tony award after Tony award for Mantruck’s plays, they are just constant reminders of how fucking great Corbin Mantruck really is. In one stunning scene, after a Tony Awards, a jealous and drunken Shakespeare intrudes on the reclusive Mantruck. Shakespeare tells Mantruck that all of Mantruck’s plays have been garbage. Garbage! Amazingly, Mantruck agrees with Shakespeare, (!) but he tells him that the one he is writing now is his masterpiece. His masterpiece!

Shakespeare reads the first draft of Corbin Mantruck’s masterpiece and it blows his boots off it’s so good. Ashamed and crying, Shakespeare gets on his knees and confesses his plagerism crimes to Corbin Mantruck. What can he do? he pleads, What can he do to make it up to Corbin Mantruck? Mantruck tells Shakespeare that the only way he can make it up is to win London’s annual marathon race and donate the £500,000 prize to the local fish market.

Shakespeare can’t do it alone. His drinking problem has made him overweight and out-of-shape and he’s in no condition to run a marathon. Fortunately, Corbin Mantruck has an idea. He quickly sets to work writing a new play, a play where Shakespeare is the star. In the play, Shakespeare’s character does warm ups, jumps rope, eats healthy, and quits drinking. To rehearse for the play, Shakespeare does all these things. Soon he has abs of steel and he’s very in shape. It’s a true testament to Corbin Mantruck’s playwrighting ability.

On the day of the big race, both Shakespeare and Mantruck line up as contestants. They’re longshots because they’re up against known cheaters Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Barry Allen, and Edward de Vere, all of whom are dressed solely in black 15^th century running gear.

The race starts and sure enough, Marlowe puts tranquilizers in Shakespeare’s water, Bacon cuts Shakespeare’s Achilles’ heel, Allen uses his powers, and de Vere uses his roller-skate shoes. It’s looking bad for Shakespeare, and he’s upset because he really wants win the money for the fish market so he can make up his plagiarism crimes to Corbin Mantruck.

Corbin Mantruck, expecting these troubles, is quick to react. In no time at all he writes another script in which Marlowe, Bacon, Allen, and de Vere all die before completing the race. Quickly, Mantruck passes out the screenplay to each of the four cheaters. Soon they are all dead, and Mantruck’s only problem now is getting the tranquilized and crippled Shakespeare across the finish line. In an act of complete heroism, Corbin Mantruck writes a script giving him the strength to pick up William Shakespeare and carry him across the finish line. As they cross the finish line together, Mantruck tells Shakespeare that he never cared about the plagerism. He just cared about their friendship. The movie closes as we watch Corbin Mantruck’s masterpiece play. It is called “Shakespeare’s Apprentice,” and it’s the Corbin and Shakespeare’s story.