Viola's identity is exposed, leaving them without a stage or lead actor, until Richard Burbage offers them his theatre.

When Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels, is informed there is a woman player at The Rose, he closes the theatre for breaking the ban on women. Viola finds out that Will is still alive, and declares her love for him. It is later learned that Marlowe had been killed in an accident. Because Wessex thinks that Will is Kit Marlowe, he approves of Kit's death, and tells Viola the news. Lord Wessex suspects an affair between Shakespeare and his bride-to-be. Will discovers that Marlowe is dead, and thinks he is to blame. Viola is appalled when she learns Shakespeare is married, albeit separated from his wife, and she realises she cannot escape her duty to marry Wessex. The Rose Theatre company drives Burbage and his company out and then celebrate at the local pub. When Richard Burbage, owner of the Curtain, finds out that Shakespeare has cheated him out of both money and the play, he goes to the Rose Theatre with his Curtain Theatre Company and starts a brawl. Queen Elizabeth I declares that she will judge the matter when the occasion arises. There, he persuades Wessex to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the exact amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlain's Men. Shakespeare accompanies her, disguised as her female cousin. Then, Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage to Lord Wessex. Inspired by her, Shakespeare writes quickly, with help from his friend and rival playwright Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, completely transforming the play into what will become Romeo and Juliet. When he discovers her true identity, they begin a secret affair. Wessex also asks Will's name, to which he replies that he is Christopher Marlowe. While dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless, and after being forcibly ejected by Wessex, uses Thomas Kent as a go-between to woo her. He sneaks into the house with the minstrels playing that night at the ball, where her parents are arranging her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an impoverished aristocrat. Shakespeare pursues Kent to Viola's house and leaves a note with the nurse, asking Thomas Kent to begin rehearsals at the Rose. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who has seen Shakespeare's plays at court, disguises herself as 'Thomas Kent' to audition, then runs away. Suffering from writer's block, he has barely begun the play, but starts auditioning players. Shakespeare is working on a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and poor playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre.

Shakespeer in love