Early Modern Drama in Performance is a collection of essays in honor of Lois Potter, the distinguished author of five monographs, including most recently The Life of William Shakespeare (2012), and numerous articles, edited collections, and editions. This collection’s emphasis on Shakespearean and early modern drama reflects the area for which Potter is most widely known, as a performance critic, editor, and literary scholar. The essays by a diverse group of scholars who have been influenc...

Michael D. Friedman’s second edition of this stage history of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus adds an examination of twelve major theatrical productions and one film that appeared in the years 1989–2009. Friedman identifies four lines of descent in the recent performance history of the play: the stylised, realistic, darkly comic, and political approaches, which culminate in Julie Taymor’s harrowing film Titus (1999). Aspects of Taymor’s eclectic vision of ancient Rome under the grip of mode...

International bestseller Bill Bryson brings us this brilliantly readable biography of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare.Join Bill as he takes you on a journey through Elizabethan England, tackling the myths, half-truths and downright lies to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces.Revel in this glorious celebration of the life of Shakespeare from the much-loved author of ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ and ‘Notes from a Small Island’.

The beloved plays of Shakespeare are still produced everywhere, yet the life of the world's most famous playwright remains largely a mystery. Young Will left the town of Stratford to pursue theater in London, where his work eventually thrived and made him a famous and wealthy man. With black-and-white illustrations that include a diagram of the famous Globe theater, Celeste Davidson Mannis puts together the pieces of Shakespeare's life and work for young readers.

Discover true stories and fascinating facts about our rich and colorful literary world in this volume ranging from epic poetry to pulp fiction.Literary Miscellany is a breezy tour through the literature of today and yesterday. Readers are treated to eclectic investigations ranging from Homer to Harry Potter and from satire to censorship. Author Alex Palmer asks whether coffee or opium is better for creativity; why the best autobiographies are so embarrassi...

"[Rasmussen] has unearthed wonderful anecdotes of theft, fraud, and the peculiar mania of passionate bibliophiles." —Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize–winning authorThe first edition of Shakespeare's collected works, the First Folio, published in 1623, is one of the most valuable books in the world and has historically proven to be an attractive target for thieves. Of the 160 First Folios listed in a census of 1902, fourteen were subsequently sto...

This ebook is an excerpt from Contested Will by James Shapiro, and originally appeared as the last section titled "Shakespeare." In this chapter, Shapiro succintly and eloquently makes the case for why no one else but Shakespeare could have written Shakespeare's plays.

In The Quality of Mercy, one of the world's most revered theatre directors reflects on a fascinating variety of Shakespearean topics.In this sequence of essays - all but one published here for the first time - Peter Brook debates such questions as who was the man who wrote Shakespeare's plays, why Shakespeare is never out of date, and how actors should approach Shakespeare's verse. He also revisits some of the plays which he has directed with notable brilliance, such as

Thirteen leading actors take us behind the scenes, each recreating in detail a memorable performance in one of Shakespeare's major roles.Brian Cox on Titus Andronicus in Deborah Warner's visceral RSC productionJudi Dench on being directed by Franco Zeffirelli as a twenty-three-year-old JulietRalph Fiennes on Shakespeare's least sympathetic hero CoriolanusRebecca Hall on Rosalind in As You Like It, directed by her father, Sir PeterDerek ...

Why Shakespeare?It’s been 400 years since his death and yet we continue to find inspiration, revelation, solace, and entertainment in his poems and plays. In this original collection, Susannah Carson invites 38 actors, directors, scholars, and writers to share their own personal connections with Shakespeare and explore how he came to shape our world so completely.Along the way, we reminisce on a childhood spent constructing makeshift matchstick theatres with Isabel Allende,...

Written by a team of leading international scholars, this Companion is designed to illuminate Shakespeare's works through discussion of the key topics of Shakespeare studies. Twenty-one essays provide lively and authoritative approaches to recent scholarship and criticism for readers keen to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Shakespeare. The book contains stimulating chapters on traditional topics such as Shakespeare's biography and the transmission of his texts. Individual readin...

Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the sixteenth century.The play is set during the latter days of the Roman Empire and tells the fictional story of Titus, a gene...