MUCH has been made of Shakespeare's sonnets and the identity of the mysterious WH, to whom some were dedicated.

Melmoth theatre company tackles this subject head-on with a hilarious and bawdy take on the love story between William Shakespeare and WH, who it predicts is William Herbert, the later Earl of Pembroke.

The play opens with the Bard starting to tell the audience his story, before WH butts in with his own version. We then flit between the present day and the 16th Century, with both characters vying for attention.

The upstairs of The Hobgoblin pub in Forest Hill is a great backdrop for this intimate story, holding around 40 patrons.

But it is somewhat marred by interruptions from outside, with police sirens threatening to drown out the action and noise from the pub downstairs.

The chemistry between the two main characters, Stuart Draper as the Bard and Luke Leeves as William Herbert, is spot on and you instantly believe in their relationship.

The play is slightly let down by the Dark Lady (Maddi Black) who entertains the crowd very well as a minstrel but her thinly disguised Australian accent doesn't sit well with the rest of the action.

The show plays on the rumours about Shakespeare not writing his own plays.William Herbert, it claims, wrote classics including As You Like It, which started off as Whatever.

The enduring popularity of the bard is also joked about when he says: "The day my work is studied in the classroom is the day my work dies."

Melmoth was set up to produce audacious revivals of classics and to produce challenging, entertaining theatre. To WH certainly does that.

The theme of sexual identity and the bawdy humour mirror the plot of one of Shakespeare's own plays.

Behind the schoolboy humour, hides a love story and you get an idea of the difficulties of having a homo- sexual relationship in the 16th Century.

The play manages to be funny, challenging but also touching.

Above all, though, it is an original and hilarious look at Shakespeare's life and loves.

To WH, by Stuart Draper. Now until May 5, then May 16 - 19, The Hobgoblin, Devonshire Road, Forest Hill, £10/£8 concs, for tickets and times, call the box office on 020 7639 5590.