There are many doors that must be unlocked to understand Shakespeare: Elizabethan English, pentameter verse, and 16th- and 17th- century English culture. Colin Cox says the master key is found in understanding Shakespeare himself.

Cox’s play, “Not Without Right: The Life of William Shakespeare,” is an effort to take the bard out of the mythical stratosphere that Shakespeare is thought by many to inhabit, and place him back into history as a real, tangible human being.

Cox stresses the importance of knowing the man himself because “When you see this man describing why and how and all of the intricacies of what went on in his life that those plays are the result of, you walk away going, `OK, he was a man; he had reasons for what he did,’ and that’s the beauty of his work,” he says.

Cox was inspired to write the play by the prodding of others familiar with his erudition concerning Shakespeare.

“I have what’s acknowledged as an encyclopedic knowledge of the man. I can pretty much tell you what he had for lunch,” Cox says.

It’s not bragging if it’s true, and considering that Cox and his Los Angeles-based production company, Will and Company, have done all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays, one would do well to take him at his word.

The title “Not Without Right” refers to the motto inscribed onto the coat of arms Shakespeare eventually acquired for his father. It is the pursuit of this coat of arms that Cox says motivated the young Shakespeare to venture from his hometown of Stratford to London in an attempt to make it as an actor and writer.

Shakespeare’s father worked his way up in the English class system, but lost his opportunity to get a coat of arms because of his Catholic faith. The coat of arms would have signified a higher class ranking.

“[The motto symbolizes] how he fought to get it and what he had to go through to become a famous writer and a wealthy man. And so when he finally got it, he put that imprimatur on it, which was `Not Without Right’ – we deserve this,” Cox said.

Even though the historical data we have on Shakespeare himself is scarce, Susan Carlson, associate provost of English, says that hasn’t stopped writers from attempting to tell his story in their own words.

“There is a long history of plays about Shakespeare and it includes many pre-eminent writers. Plays about Shakespeare have proven to be one of our most interesting ways of speculating about who he was and what he might have been like,” she says.

In spite of the fact that there are only six extant pieces of writing with Shakespeare’s signature, Cox does suggest that informed speculation is possible.

“If you come to my home there are about 60 books on Shakespeare on my shelf; I’ve read every one there is. So, yes, it’s conjecture on my part, but it’s conjecture based on having read what everyone else has said,” he says.

Carlson is most interested in seeing how Cox makes Shakespeare human.

“Since Shakespeare’s own writing is so impressive, it is often hard for people to imagine that he had a mundane life like the rest of us, with parents, wife, children, friends, etc. . I would like to see if [Cox] can bring these two sides of his life together,” Carlson says.

While “Not Without Right” will certainly appeal to Shakespeare buffs, Cox especially wants his play to appeal to a different audience type.

“I always love it better when they’re not Shakespeareans; when they’re people who said `I hated Shakespeare in school’ . . When those people come up to me and say, `OK, now I get it,’ that’s all I want,” he said.