CEDAR CITY — The second installment of the Words Cubed series at the Utah Shakespeare Festival this year was entitled The Forgeries of Jealousy, a new play by Grant Goodman, directed by Rodney Lizcano. The show is set in the years 1790-1796 across three locations: London, Stratford Upon Avon, and Steventon, Hampshire, . The show follows the true story of William Henry Ireland, a young man who convinced his father and everyone around him that he had unearthed letters, manuscripts, and even a long-lost play of Shakespeare’s. The play not only digs into this history, but looks at father-son relationships, romantic relationships, questions of what is true verses what we wish to be true, and the desire to be relevant.
In nearly 40 years of loving theatre, including attending attending the Utah Shakespeare Festival for much of that time, I had never heard of a William Henry Ireland. Having seen countless Shakespeare and Shakespeare adjacent productions, from here in Utah, to New York, to London and even in his home of Stratford-Upon-Avon, I am embarrassed to have not known about this part of history until Goodman’s writing, but found the revelations enlightening. I spent the entirety of intermission fact checking his story with what the internet could provide me about Ireland. For this reason, I am glad that I attended the production, because I enjoy every chance I get to learn more about theatrical history.
The first installment of the Word Cubed series, Morphology, read with more polish, and Forgeries read more as a new play. Listening to multiple actors give stage directions was insightful and interesting. There were references to music that I’d be intrigued to hear with live scoring. The staged reading envorinment showed me that this play’s potential as a fully realized production has depth that is still finding its way through the development process as a complex and interesting new work.
The cast, however, was phenomenal. Nick Case played the main role of William Henry Ireland, or Hen, and he did a fine job of building sympathy for the case of a young man who got lost in a lie that built into something bigger than he ever intended. Case had a challenging task playing against John Harrell as Hen’s very difficult to please father. Harrell’s strong presence as the father increased the plays stakes, making clear why Hen would want to go out of his way to impress; even when those impressions would lead to lies. I was quite taken by Heidi Carann Snider, whose main role in the production was Hen’s sister Jane, and his main cheerleader. She was excellent at this. Jane also struck up a friendship with Cassandra Austen, played by Emily Fury Daly, and I enjoyed their interactions and the peak into this other side of literary contemporaries.
One negative of this new work is that was that it was long and cumbersome in places. With the intermission, the show lasted over two and a half hours. Considering the fact that this was without scene changes, costumes, or other theatrical elements, it is makes me suspect that putting a full production together would make for quite a long show. The writing was clever, with a great deal of play on words. Key themes and motifs, especially with the idea of forgery, connecting to authors such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and others, and support the use of puns and quips the way Shakespeare would. However, certain moments would drag in ways that I am afraid caused me to lose interest. That’s the next step of development for this piece; keep the intrigue without losing the audience due to slow pacing.
The biggest strength in this show was the humor. Just as the musical Something Rotten utilizes the way audiences know and love Shakespeare, the jokes within this show that lean into pointing out that Shakespeare took a character like Bottom and turned him into an ass, or pointing out that actors make bad partners because they never have money hit well.
USF notes on their website that in seeking for submissions, ” We are not looking for the ‘best’ play submitted, rather a great one that will benefit from our process.” While Words Cubed doesn’t always develop works with Shakespeare ties, this was an apt pairing for the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Developing new works is an astounding process, but this play has the historical relevance to potentially become a strong new work.
MORE INFO: The Forgeries of Jealousy by Grant Goodman was presented August 14, 15, 20, and 22, 2026, at 9:30 AM in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre (195 W Center St, Cedar City, UT 84720) as part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Words Cubed new play development program. Tickets were $20. The 2026 Words Cubed series has concluded. Information about the Festival’s 2027 Words Cubed submission process is available at https://www.bard.org/about/words-cubed-submission/. For information about current and upcoming productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, visit https://www.bard.org/.
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