Presents the history of Shakespeare, following him through a single year that changed not only his fortunes, but the course of literature. In this one year, we follow what he reads and writes, what he saw, and who he worked with as he creates four of his most famous plays - "Henry V", "Julius Caesar", "As You Like It", and "Hamlet".

Following the biographical style of 1599, this book traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, The Chronicle History of King Leir, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, King Lear.

The man and the plays - without the boring bits - with commentary by Peter Ackroyd.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's most loved comedy. This edition also includes an essay on Shakespeare's career and Elizabethan theatre, and enables the reader to understand the play as it was originally intended - as living theatre to be enjoyed and performed.

Siobhan Keenan's comprehensive survey of the key acting companies of the early modern period offers undergraduates and scholars a new perspective on how their demands effected the sort of plays being written and the multiple factors which fostered and formed the theatre of renaissance England.

A fresh new edition of Shakespeare's ambiguous, bittersweet fairy tale, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Gregory Doran and Stephen Fried, and actor Guy Henry, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and an illuminating introduction by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate.

This new edition of Shakespeare's classic love story, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Adrian Noble, Gregory Doran and Braham Murray, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and a completely new introduction by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate.

This handbook offers a way in to reading Anthony and Cleopatra theatrically. Through analyses of key productions, an account of the historical conditions in which the play was first produced, and a scene-by-scene account of how the play might be approached in performance, this book focuses on the challenges of staging the notorious lovers.

The introduction to this edition of "Troilus and Cressida" places it in its late Elizabethan context, examines and assimilates the wide variety of critical responses the play has elicited, and argues its importance in the context of late 20th-century culture as an experimental and open-ended work.

With its cross-dressed heroine, gender games and explorations of sexual ambivalence, its Forest of Arden and melancholy Jacques, this book speaks directly to the twenty-first century. It connects the play to the Elizabethan court and its dynamic queen and demonstrates that the play's vital roots in its own time give it new life in ours.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's journey into the Forest of Arden.

Michael Hattaway's introduction to this bestselling edition accounts for what makes this popular play both innocent and dangerous. This third edition includes a new section on recent critical interpretations and on recent as well as past stage productions and films of the play, as well as fresh illustrations.

A major new edition of Shakespeare's popular pastoral romance which explores Elizabethan culture, gender and the play's global afterlives.

A major new edition of Shakespeare's popular pastoral romance which explores Elizabethan culture, gender and the play's global afterlives.

The commentary at the centre of this Handbook introduces students to the play as it would be experienced in performance. Other sections provide basic information about the text and its first performances, a brief description of the main political and cultural currents of the time and the popular kinds of entertainment, drama and comedy.

Introduces students to the study of Shakespeare and grounds their understandings of his work in theoretical discourses. By addressing what is primarily at stake in the major theoretical approaches to Shakespeare's works, the book breaks down both fears and preconceptions to offer students a map of the current critical practices of others.

Whimsical visual adaptations of four Shakespearean comedies, rendered in LEGO bricks, feature scene-by-scene reenactments accompanied by captioned excerpts from the plays.

An international team of scholars covers every aspect of one of the most famous books in the English language.

An accessible and lively 2007 introduction to Shakespeare's history plays and their tradition on stage and film.

Set in the heat and dust of Andalusia in seventeenth-century Spain, Cardenio is the story of a friendship betrayed, with all the elements of a thriller: disguise, dishonour and deceit.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's anarchic comedy.

All you need to know about William Shakespeare's Hamlet is in this advanced guide to the text. Connell Guides are advanced guide books that offer sophisticated analysis and broad critical perspectives for higher-level GCSE and A Level English Literature students.

Valentine Cunningham shows what it is that Shakespeare is driving at in Lear and how this extraordinary tragedy about a foolish old king who goes mad leads directly to Samuel Beckett and the Theatre of the Absurd.

For two hundred years after William Shakespeare's death, no one thought to argue that somebody else had written his plays. This book unravels the mystery of when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote the plays.

This new edition of Shakespeare's gripping political and personal tragedy, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Gregory Doran and David Farr, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and an illuminating introduction by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate.

This Roman play is one of Shakespeare's last tragedies, best known for its political and military themes.The Introduction and commentary notes open up the language, themes and ideas in this complex yet richly rewarding play for the student and teacher.

A fresh new edition of Shakespeare's magical late play, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Dominic Cooke and Emma Rice, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and an illuminating introduction to the play by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate

Compiled by one of the best-known authorities on the bard's works, this dictionary offers up-to-date information on all aspects of Shakespeare in his own time and on his impact and influence on later ages. Essential reference for anyone with an interest in Shakespeare.

First performed in 1727, Cardenio or Double Falsehood was based on a play originally written by William Shakespeare. This significant new edition traces the elements of his work to be found in the text we have today, opening up fascinating questions and ideas for all students of Shakespeare.

A daily dose of eloquence and reflection. Let yourself be nourished with everyday lines from the Bard.

Shakespeare: increasingly irrelevant or lone literary genius of the Western canon?

The first edition of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy to be developed by and for the Royal Shakespeare Company, this book includes unique material to help the reader understand and enjoy the play, including interviews with directors Michael Boyd, John Caird and Ron Daniels and a brand new introduction from award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate.

A stylish reworking of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, set in the glittering hi-tech universe of contemporary New York. It hinges upon the feud between the moody Prince (Ethan Hawke) and his villainous stepfather Claudius (Kyle MacLachlan).

The commentary at the centre of this groundbreaking introduction alerts the reader to what happens on stage during a performance by showing what the text requires from actors and the choices they are offered.

For this updated edition Robert Hapgood has added a section on prevailing critical and performance approaches to Hamlet.

Exam board: AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas, WJEC Level & Subject: A Level English Literature Next exams: 2026

An unabridged gift edition of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy, illustrated by Sir John Gilbert and with an introduction by Dr Robert Mighall.

This new edition of one of Shakespeare's greatest history plays offers a freshly considered text fully alert to its intense theatrical aspects. A helpful Introduction discusses the play's structure, language, and performance history, and the notes provide an illuminating commentary on details of the text.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's tragi-comedy of youth and age, introducing the immortal Sir John Falstaff.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's profound exploration of a prince's coming of age and the rejection of old Jack Falstaff.

This engaging double-volume Handbook explores the Henry IV plays as texts for performance as they unfold, moment by moment, on the stage. With scene-by-scene commentary, and including an account of their life on stage, film and in criticism, this guide illuminates two plays that together rank as one of Shakespeare's greatest achievements.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's great exploration of patriotism and war.

Focusing on stage directions, implied stage action in the dialogue, and on production choices available at key moments, this Handbook treats the script like a rehearsal in progress and encourages the imagining of a physical narrative where the play's meanings and our responses are shaped by staged actions.

This new edition is based on the 1623 First Folio text and challenges conventional thinking about the nature and relationship of the earliest texts. It contributes substantial new evidence about Shakespeare's revision of the plays and the introduction and commentary focus on stage-oriented discussions of the play's meaning and reception.

This edition in the Oxford Shakespeare series completes the trilogy of Henry VI plays. In his introduction Michael Taylor considers the implications of the gap between first performance in 1592 and the play's first printed appearance in the 1623 folio. He discusses key issues such as language, structure, performance history, and the role of women in the play.

Shakespeare's Henry VI plays dramatize contemporary as much as Elizabethan issues: the struggle for power, the manoeuvres of politicians, social unrest, civil war. This edition draws on experience of the play in rehearsal and performance to focus on both its theatricality and contemporary relevance in a wide-ranging introduction and detailed commentary.

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This major new edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded to include five new chapters that illustrate the nature and impact of the new approaches to Shakespeare that have swept through literary studies in recent years: structuralism, poststructuralism, deconstruction, feminism, new historicism and cultural materialism.

A fascinating study into the world of translation and Shakespeare from the award-winning translator Daniel Hahn

Aims to recreate the turbulent times through which William Shakespeare lived: the age of the Reformation, the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot and the colonization of the Americas. Drawing on a range of sources, this work takes us back into Elizabethan England to reveal a man who is the product of his time.

This introductory guide to one of Jonson's most widely-studied plays offers a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key performances and productions, a survey of film and TV adaptations, and a wide sampling of critical opinion and further reading.

Modern editions of a popular and trusted series.

A major new edition of Shakespeare's timeless tragedy of politics and power.

A major new edition of Shakespeare's timeless tragedy of politics and power.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's drama of the conflict between one man's ambition and the good of the state.

This introductory guide to the first of Shakespeare's mature tragedies offers a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key performances and productions, a survey of film and TV adaptations, and a wide sampling of critical opinion and annotated further reading.

This edition of "Julius Caesar" provides a lively edition of one of Shakespeare's most familiar and studied plays. The introduction sets the play in the context of the last years of Elizabeth I's reign, with rebellion stirring and conflicts over the calendar.

David Scott Kastan's lucid exploration of the remarkable richness and ambitious design of "King Henry IV Part I" reveals the play to be almost a treatise on the central relationship between value and political authority.

The editor takes a broad look at the different meanings which have been attributed to "King Henry V", through a discussion of its various critical and theatrical interpretations.

In their introduction to this play, the editors show how the young Shakespeare, working closely from his chronicle sources, nevertheless freely shaped his complex material to make it both theatrically effective and poetically innovative.

"King Henry VIII" has one of the fullest theatrical histories of any play in the Shakespeare canon, yet has been consistently misrepresented, both in performance and in criticism. This edition offers a fresh perspective on this ironic, multi-layered, collaborative play.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's most unusual and provocative histories.

Includes material to help reader understand and enjoy Shakespeare on the stage as well as on the page. This book features scene-by-scene summary, offering an easily understandable way into the play.

In this edition, R.A. Foakes brings to bear a number of historical perspectives and critically addresses recent explorations of "King Lear" as a play of redemption, a play of despair and a play that destabilises all commentary.

An introductory guide to King Lear in performance offering a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, contextual documents, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key productions, a survey of film and TV adaptations, a sampling of critical opinion and annotated further reading.

A study aid, which explores and dissects the play's themes, issues, motifs and

A book on the experience of reading Shakespeare's 'dark plays' which 'often begin with lives falling apart: an event-shipwreck, exile, doubt, or unexpected love-derails what had seemed secure. Those who participate in the plays, as players, audience members, or readers, are invited to see in those events the vulnerability of their own lives.

This annotated edition of "King Richard II" takes a fresh look at the first part of Shakespeare's second tetralogy of history plays, showing how it relates to the other plays in the sequence.

A critical new edition of King Richard III by a leading Shakespeare scholar which explores the play's textual, cultural and performance history and shares new insights into gender, sexuality and race.

A critical new edition of King Richard III by a leading Shakespeare scholar which explores the play's textual, cultural and performance history and shares new insights into gender, sexuality and race.

Written for pupils working towards the Key Stage 3 National Tests, this title gives an overview of the main characters and themes of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night". It has an illustrative style, gives examiner's tips, key notes to learn and explore, self-test quizzes and example questions.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's dazzling comedy.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's great drama of ambition, desire and guilt.

An edition of one of the most popular Shakespeare plays, including an introductory section on performances and adaptations.

This introductory guide to one of Marlowe's most widely-studied plays offers a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key performances and productions, a survey of screen adaptations, and a wide sampling of critical opinion and further reading.

This new edition of Shakespeare's dark comedy of sexual desire and hypocrisy, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with one leading director and two actors (Trevor Nunn, Roger Allam, and Josette Simon), looks at specific productions in the play's history, and a completely new introduction by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate.

Measure for Measure generates much debate and is strikingly modern. This introductory guide offers a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, a brief history of the text and first performance, studies of influential performances, a survey of film and TV adaptation, a wide sampling of critical opinion and annotated further reading.

This volume, while it raises all the questions appertaining to the cultural, historical and critical contexts of the play, has as its primary focus the play as theatrical performance. The questions raised are those that face actors, stage managers and directors, scenic and costume designers, in the rehearsal room and on the stage.

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's most problematic plays, largely because of what is seen as its inherent anti-semitism. At the centre of the play is one of the most famous anti-heroes in Shakespeare: Shylock 'the Jew'. How to interpret Shylock baffles critics as they divide on whether Shakespeare is prejudiced or sympathetic.

This introductory guide to one of Middleton and Rowley's most widely-studied plays offers a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key performances and productions, a survey of film and TV adaptations, and a wide sampling of critical opinion and further reading.

This introductory guide to one Shakespeare's most read and performed plays offers a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key performances and productions, a survey of film and TV adaptations, and a wide sampling of critical opinion and annotated further reading.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of the most popular texts for study by secondary students the world over. This edition includes illustrations, preliminary notes, reading lists (including websites) and classroom notes.

'York Notes Advanced' offer an accessible approach to English Literature. This series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced introduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.

This fresh edition of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies offers new insights into the play on the page and in performance, offering interviews with directors Nicholas Hytner and Marianne Elliott and actress Harriet Walter alongside student-friendly scene-by-scene analysis and a new introduction from Jonathan Bate.

This Handbook provides an introductory guide to Much Ado About Nothing offering a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, contextual documents, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key productions, a survey of film and TV adaptation, a wide sampling of critical opinion and further reading.

This book charts the journey of Greg Doran through an account of his experiences either directing or producing each of Shakespeare's plays in the First Folio.

This entirely new Complete Works, edited afresh from the original documents, provides scholars with all the materials they need for text-based research. The edition preserves the spelling, punctuation, ambiguities, and inconsistencies of the early documents, and introductions and on-page notes address the book history and documentary origins.

On Shakespeare's Sonnets: A Poets' Celebration brings together thirty of the world's foremost contemporary poets writing in response to Shakespeare's Sonnets.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's magnificent tragedy of love, jealousy and explosive racial politics.

A popular soldier and newly married man, Othello seems to be in an enviable position. And yet, when his supposed friend Iago sows doubts in his mind about his wife Desdemona's fidelity, and his friend Cassio's true intentions, he is gradually consumed by suspicion.

An introductory guide to Othello in performance offering a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, contextual documents, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key productions, a survey of screen adaptations, a sampling of critical opinion and further reading.

This dictionary is the first comprehensive description of Shakespearean original pronunication (OP), enabling practitioners to deal with any queries about the pronunciation of individual words. It includes all the words in the First Folio, transcribed using IPA, and the accompanying website hosts sound files as a further aid to pronunciation.

Winner of Best Book, Publication, or Recording prize at the Falstaff Awards 2015 and shortlisted for the 2016 SLA Information Book Award. This innovative dictionary is written by leading experts in linguistics and Shakespeare, David and Ben Crystal. It provides students with invaluable support while they read and understand Shakespeare's plays.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's touching fable of loss and reunion.

This edition of Pericles in the Oxford Shakespeare series is the only single-volume, modern-spelling edition both to offer a reconstruction of the original play and to reproduce the corrupt Quarto text of 1609 exactly as first printed.

How did Shakespeare's plays sound when they were originally performed? How can we know, and could the original pronunciation ever be recreated? David Crystal recounts and reflects on Shakespeare's Globe's experiment with original pronunciation.

One of the world's most revered theatre directors reflects on a fascinating variety of Shakespearean topics.

Lucidly written, with no jargon, this is an invaluable overview of Shakespeare's life and works for students who may be studying Shakespeare for the first time.This is an ideal set text for modules on Shakespeare, Jacobean Drama or Renaissance/ Early Modern Literature which may be offered at all levels of an undergraduate Literature degree.

Offers a fresh and direct approach to the Shakespeare's Sonnets. This title discusses the meaning, technique, hidden structure and feverish narrative of the Sonnets, as well as the difficulties they present for the modern reader.

This volume brings together nineteen important articles by Pamela M. King, one of the foremost British scholars working on Early English Drama.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's tragic history of a ruler losing his grip on power.

This Handbook provides an introductory guide to Richard II offering a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, contextual documents, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of three or four key performances and productions, a survey of film and TV adaptations, a wide sampling of critical opinion and further reading.

With interviews with actors and directors including Simon Russell Beale, Bill Alexander and Richard Eyre, along with detailed looks at productions at the RSC and elsewhere, this new edition of the play offers innovative ways of looking at and understanding Shakespeare, as well as student-friendly notes and summaries.

This introduction to the performance potential of one of Shakespeare's most theatrically exciting plays provides extensive commentary that explores the challenges faced by actors and directors and encourages readers to engage imaginatively with Shakespeare's words. Chapters on stage, film and critical history combine to form a comprehensive study.

This comprehensive edition of King Richard III offers all the features associated with the Arden Shakespeare. Richard is one of Shakespeare's great villains and the play that bears his name is one of his most popular in performance and in classrooms.

With outstanding on-page explanatory notes, an in-depth scene-by-scene summary and fascinating interviews with actors David Tennant and Alexandra Gilbreath and director Michael Attenborough, this fresh edition from the Royal Shakespeare Company offers enlightening new approaches to Shakespeare's tragic love story.

An introductory guide to 'Romeo and Juliet' in performance offering a scene-by-scene theatrically aware commentary, contextual documents, a brief history of the text and first performances, case studies of key productions, a survey of screen adaptations, a sampling of critical opinion and annotated further reading.

A major new edition of Shakespeare's tragedy arguing that the play is ultimately Juliet's. The illustrated introduction discusses the play's stage and screen history, its language and the many critical issues surrounding it.It gives a comprehensive, penetrating introduction to the play.On-page notes to deepen understanding.

From bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet.

This essential guide provides a comprehensive survey of the most important criticism surrounding As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's most popular and engaging comedies, from the earliest appraisals through to twenty-first century scholarship.

Shows that Shakespeare was a man of the theatre, one among a community of artists in the teeming world of Renaissance London. This book also sketches a gallery of Shakespeare's fellow playwrights.

A collection of essays by some of the major international literary and cultural critics on the Shakespeare authorship question and controversy. It explores the Authorship question as a social, cultural and even theological phenomenon and consider it in all its rich diversity and significance.

What is the significance of Shylock's ring in The Merchant of Venice? How does Shakespeare create Gertrude's closet in Hamlet? Why does Ariel prepare a banquet in The Tempest? In order to answer these questions, Shakespeare and Material Culture explores performance from the perspective of the material conditions of staging.

An essential resource for the history of Shakespeare on the page, this book traces the historical intersection of textual theory and Shakespeare studies and analyzes current theoretical debates in the field.

Shakespeare's position as England's national poet is established and unquestionable. But as James Shapiro illuminates in this revelatory new history, Shakespeare has long held an essential place in American culture.

From the author of 1599, a fresh perspective on the history of the United States - and a timely reminder of Shakespeare's indelible influence.

Offers an insight into Shakespeare's place in today's soceity, particularly in major institutions such as the military, prisons and schools.

An approachable guide to Shakespeare on film, this book establishes the differences between stage and screen. Thoroughly updated to include the most recent films, for instance Joss Whedon's 2013 Much Ado About Nothing, it also explores the latest technology, such as DVD and Blu-ray, as well as live stage-to-screen productions.

A new edition of Ben Crystal's popular guide to the Bard

Delving into the inspirations behind his masterworks and the influences of generations of performers, this book reveals the incredible variety of ways Shakespeare's plays have been adapted for stage and screen. Commemorating the 400th anniversary of his death, it looks at the facts and myths of Shakespeare's life and times.

Suitable for readers who downed Tequila Mockingbird and felt the force of William Shakespeare's Star Wars will thrill to its intoxicating mix of literary nerdery and cheeky wordplay.

Edited by Stanley Wells and Lena Cowen Orlin, this comprehensive guide to Shakespeare comprises over 40 specially commissioned essays by a team of contemporary Shakespeare scholars. The volume is divided into four key parts - 'Shakespeare's life and times,' 'Shakespearean Genres', 'Shakespeare Criticism', and 'Shakespeare's Afterlife'.

A selection of critical essays on Shakespeare's early comedies: "The Comedy of Errors", "The Taming of the Shrew", "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and "Love's Labour's Lost", this book affords each play its own section, containing a representative selection of commentary and criticism.

Offers a biography of Shakespeare, this book reads like the work of a contemporary meeting Shakespeare. It is a depiction of the world Shakespeare inhabited.

This essential study takes a fresh look at four of Shakespeare's major History plays. Part I uses carefully selected short extracts for close textual analysis, while Part II examines the historical and literary contexts and key criticism. The volume is an ideal introductory guide for those who are studying the Histories for the first time.

This essential study takes a fresh look at The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Cymbeline and Pericles. Part I uses carefully selected short extracts for close textual analysis, while Part II examines the contexts and key criticism. The volume is an ideal introductory guide for those who are studying Shakespeare's late plays for the first time.

Adrian Poole explains why Antony and Cleopatra is both so special and so different from the four commonly regarded as Shakespeare's greatest tragedies: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Poole shows that while Shakespeare is dramatising the most famous love affair in the ancient world, his handling of sex and politics is strikingly modern.

Published to mark the 400th anniversary of the book's original publication, this facsimile edition faithfully reproduces one of the finest copies held in the British Library collections.

This account of the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's collected plays provides an account of the its post-publication history, tracing the individual copies of the First Folio across time and space to understand what it has meant to its various owners and users.

Reveals the hidden history of the house where Shakespeare was born and its changing fortunes over four centuries, mirroring the changing attitudes towards Shakespeare as a man and global icon.

In a sparkling, fast-paced narrative, Shakespeare's Kings chronicles the turbulent events that inspired Shakespeare's history plays, from Edward III to Richard III.

A thrilling act of literary detection as Gregory Doran attempts to rediscover Shakespeare's lost play.

An immersive account of William Shakespeare's life and legacy presented in a lavishly illustrated journal-style format

This compact, engaging book puts Shakespeare's originality in historical context and looks at how he worked with his sources: the plays, poems, chronicles and romances on which his own plays are based.

Rome was a recurring theme throughout Shakespeare's career, from the celebrated Julius Caesar, to the more obscure Cymbeline. In this book, Paul Innes assesses themes of politics and national identity in these plays through the common theme of Rome.

Presents a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. This book contains poetry and themes such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality. It is a pocket-sized volume.

A revised edition of this acclaimed and best-selling edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets and updated throughout to take account of recent scholarship since its first publication in 1997.

This fresh edition of Shakespeare's much-loved Sonnets, developed by and for the Royal Shakespeare Company, features a Foreword by the actor/director, Fiona Shaw. Its easily accessible layout and elegant design make it the ideal gift for any special occasion.

Shakespeare's tragedies contain an astonishing variety of suffering, from suicides and murders to dismemberments and grief. Stanley Wells considers how the bard's tragic plays drew on the literary and theatrical conventions of his time. Discussing the individual plays, he also explores why tragedy is regarded as a fit subject for entertainment.

Suitable for scholars, students and actors, this book contains glosses and quotes for over 14,000 words that could be misunderstood by modern audience. It features different panels that look at such areas of Shakespeare's language as greetings, swear-words and terms of address.

Sir Thomas More deals with matters so controversial that it may never have reached performance on stage. A compelling play of riots and religious politics, it is also an intriguing document of what could, and could not, be articulated in the early modern public theatre.

A quirky exploration of Shakespeare and his plays, full of facts, figures and trivia to amuse, impress and entertain.

Sonnets are for romantics, starry-eyed lovers and ardent hearts. And Shakespeare's sonnets are the best ever written. And although the poems are full of mystery - why did Shakespeare write them, what was his sexuality? This is a guide to everything you might want to know about Shakespeare and his sonnets.

Updated edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets, with an introduction by Stephen Orgel.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's much-loved sonnets and poems. Ideal for students and lovers of Shakespeare everywhere, the RSC editions offer a fresh, accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare's works for the twenty-first century.

Shakespearean author and actor Ben Crystal gives a unique introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream with guidance on what to think about before, during and after you see or study the play.

A short introduction to King Lear by Shakespearean author and actor Ben Crystal giving insights before during and after you see or study the play

An accessible short introduction to Hamlet, ideal for students and theatre-goers alike

An updated edition of The Taming of the Shrew with sections added to the Introduction.

The Taming of the Shrew is one of the most famous and controversial of Shakespeare's comedies.