This non-canonical sketch was performed on stage at the Sadlers Wells Theatre on 18 September 1989. It was written for and performed at an AIDS benefit concert directed by Stephen Fry, and features Hugh Laurie as "Bill" Shakespeare and Rowan Atkinson as his agent or manager, whose name is not mentioned in the sketch. They discuss cutting various sections of Hamlet – in particular the "To be or not to be" soliloquy. Shakespeare is very reluctant to cut any dialogue, but ultimately, Rowan Atkinson's character talks Shakespeare down from an over-long speech to the familiar 'snappy' phrase. Because the agent's name is never given, it is not certain he is an incarnation of the Blackadder family, although he is often identified as a Blackadder. However, Richard Curtis later stated that it was ne