A Twickenham theatre director has contributed new evidence about a lost Shakespeare play, after becoming involved in a world-renowned scholar’s attempts to reconstruct it.

Gerald Baker, of Clevedon Road, has been examining the History of Cardenio, a play based on Don Quixote which records say Shakespeare wrote near the end of his career.

Mr Baker, chairman of the amateur theatre group Richmond Shakespeare Society, has been working with scholar Professor Gary Taylor to uncover the missing play’s secrets.

He said: “We have the translation they used and an 18th century adaptation.

“Professor Gary Taylor has done work in his editing of Shakespeare and his equally great contemporary Middleton that is mould-breaking.

“He’s spent 20 years reconstructing the play, using the materials we have combined with his unsurpassed knowledge of the language and techniques of both Shakespeare and his successor Fletcher.”

Mr Baker, who directed the ArtsRichmond Swan Award-nominated Henry V for Kew amateur group Q2 Players, attended a rehearsed reading of the script two years ago.

The reading took place at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and he wrote to Professor Taylor with his comments.

He has now contributed chapters of new evidence to Prof Taylor’s latest book on the subject.

Mr Baker said: “It’s a document that hasn’t been related to Cardenio before, which gives us some very interesting information about the contents of the play.”

The Creation and Re-creation of Cardenio: Performing Shakespeare, Transforming Cervantes, edited by Terri Bourus and Gary Taylor, is published by Palgrave at £20 and is available from Houben’s Bookshop in Richmond.