All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare; Susan Snyder (Editor)Usually classifed as a 'problem comedy', All's Well that Ends Well invites a fresh assessment. Its psychologically disturbing presentation of an agressive, designing woman and a reluctant husband wooed by trickery won it little favour in earlier centuries, and both directors and critics havefrequently tried to avoid or simplify its uncomfortable elements. More recently, several distinguished productions have revealed it as an exceptionally penetrating study of both personal and social issues. In her introduction Susan Snyder makes the play's clashing ideologies of class and gender newly accessible. She explains how the very discords of style can be seen as a source of theatrical power and complexity, and offers a fully reconsidered, helpfully annotated text for both readers andactors.
Call Number: PR2801.A2 S66 2008
ISBN: 9780192836045
Publication Date: 1998-10-29
As You Like It by Richard Andrews (Editor); Rex Gibson; William ShakespeareThis edition of As You Like It is part of the groundbreaking Cambridge School Shakespeare series established by Rex Gibson. Remaining faithful to the series' active approach it treats the play as a script to be acted, explored and enjoyed. As well as the complete script of the play, you will find a variety of classroom-tested activities, an eight-page colour section and a selection of notes including information on characters, performance, history and language.
Call Number: PR2803.A2 A63 2009
ISBN: 9780521734370
Publication Date: 2009-06-18
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare; Charles Whitworth (Editor)The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the works for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, based on the 1623 Folio text- on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, language and allusions- detailed introduction considers composition, sources, and critical and theatrical history- includes full text of Plautus' Menaechmi and extracts from Gesta Grayorum and the Geneva Bible- illustrated with production photographs and related art- full index to introduction and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.' Times Literary Supplement
Call Number: PR2804.A2 W48 2008
ISBN: 9780199536146
Publication Date: 2008-07-15
Cymbeline by William Shakespeare; Roger Warren (Editor)This is the first full-scale edition of Cymbeline for 37 years. During that time, there has been considerable interest in Shakespeare's late work in the theatre, and several notable productions have demonstrated the powerful impact of Cymbeline. Based firmly on Roger Warren's extensiveexperience of the play in rehearsal and performance, this edition shows how Shakespeare draws upon a wide range of sources to create a self-sufficient dramatic universe, combining virtuoso theatrical and poetic means to present a story of a marriage imperilled by mistrust and painfully rebuiltthrough the physical and spiritual journeys undertaken by the heroine and hero, set in a context of international conflict. A full and detailed commentary pays close attention to the play's complex, evocative language.
Call Number: PR2806.A2 W363 2008
ISBN: 9780199536504
Publication Date: 2008-08-01
Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare; G. R. Hibbard; George Richard Hibbard (Editor)Love's Labour's Lost, now recognized as one of the most delightful and stageworthy of Shakespeare's comedies, came into its own both on the stage and in critical esteem only during the 1930s and 1940s, after three hundred years of neglect by the theatre and undervaluation and misuse bycritics. The Introduction to this new edition pays particular attention to this process of rehabilitation. The text, based on the quarto of 1598 and taking full account of the extensive scholarly study that text has received over recent years, rests on the hypothesis that the quarto goes back,probably by way of `lost' quarto, to an authorial manuscript representing the play in a state prior to `fair copy'. If this is so, the quarto takes on a special significance because through it we can watch Shakespeare in the act of composition, improvising, changing his mind, and revising as hisplay develops under his hand. The editor offers a number of new readings of difficult and disputed passages, together with some suggestions about the way in which the play's notorious `tangles' may have come about. A detailed commentary offers full and helpful guidance to the play's scintillatinglanguage.
Call Number: PR2822.A2 H5 2008
ISBN: 9780199536818
Publication Date: 2008-09-01
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare; N. W. Bawcutt (Editor)When Claudio breaks the new laws against vice in Vienna by getting his financee, Julietta, pregnant, a series of ethical issues is brought under scrutiny. His sister's virtue is held to ransom by the deputy rule of the city until justice is done, mercy shown, and order restored.This is among Shakespeare's most vivid dramatic projections of moral duplicity. The introduction discusses the origins of his treatment of the well-known story and examines his sources. The editor also sets the play in its historical context and offers the most comprehensive available account ofthe text's theatrical life from Restoration adaptations to present-day productions.
Call Number: PR2824.A2 B39 2008
ISBN: 9780199535842
Publication Date: 2008-05-15
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare; T. W. Craik (Editor)The Merry Wives of Windsor was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597: Shakespeare threw into it all the creative energy that went into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff is here, with Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and Justice Shallow, in a spirited and warm-hearted'citizen comedy'. Boisterous action is combined with situational irony and rich characterization. In his introduction T. W. Craik discusses the play's probable occasion (the Garter Feast of 1597 at court), its relationship to Shakespeare's English history plays and to other sources, its textual history (with particular reference to the widely diverging 1623 Folio and 1602 Quarto), and itsoriginal quality as drama. He assesses various interpretations of the play, topical, critical, and theatrical. In the commentary he pays particular attention to expounding the literal sense (he proposes some new readings) and evoking the stage business.
Call Number: PR2826.A2 C7 2008
ISBN: 9780199536825
Publication Date: 2008-08-15
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare; John Drakakis (Editor)The Merchant of Venice is perhaps most associated not with its titular hero, Antonio, but with the complex figure of the money lender, Shylock. The play was described as a comedy in the First Folio but its modern audiences find it more problematic to categorise. The vilification of Shylock 'the Jew' can be very uncomfortable for a post-holocaust audience and debates continue as to whether Shakespeare's portrayal of this complex man is sympathetic or anti-semitic. John Drakakis' comprehensive introduction traces the stage history of the figure of the Jew and looks boldly at twenty-first century issues surrounding it. He also explores other themes of the play such as father/daughter relations, the power of money and the forceful character of Portia, to offer readers an energetic, original and revelatory reading of this challenging play.
Call Number: PR2825.A2 D73 2010
ISBN: 9781903436813
Publication Date: 2011-04-26
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare; Peter Holland (Editor)A Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps the best-loved of Shakespeare's plays. Simple and engaging on the surface, it is none the less a highly original and sophisticated work, remarkable for both its literary and its theatrical mastery. The fact that it is one of the very few of Shakespeare's plays not to draw on a narrative source suggests the degree to which it reflects his deepest imaginative concerns. In his introduction to this new edition, PeterHolland traces the material out of which Shakespeare constructs his world of night and shadows, and the strange but enchanting amalgam he makes of them.
Call Number: PR2827.A2 H57 2008
ISBN: 9780199535866
Publication Date: 2008-06-15
Much Ado about Nothing by Claire McEachern (Editor); William ShakespeareMuch Ado About Nothing boasts one of Shakespeare's most delightful heroines, most dancing wordplay, and the endearing spectacle of intellectual and social self-importance bested by the desire to love and be loved in return. It offers both the dancing wit of the "merry war" between the sexes, and a sobering vision of the costs of that combat for both men and women. Shakespeare dramatizes a social world in all of its vibrant particulars, in which characters are shaped by the relations between social convention and individual choice. This edition of the play offers in its introduction and commentary an extensive discussion of the materials that informed Shakespeare's compositional choices, both those conventional sources and other contexts, from cuckold jokes to conduct books, which inform the ideas and identities of this play. Particular attention is devoted to Renaissance understandings of gender identity and social rank, as well as to the social valences of Shakespeare's stylistic choices. Among the elements of structure and style discussed are the two concurrent plots, the recurrence of verbal handshakes, and the use of music. A treatment of staging possibilities offers illustrations drawn from the earliest and recent theatrical practices, and a critical history examines the fate of the play in the changing trends of academic scholarship. A casting chart and a list of abbreviations and references are includes as appendices. The Arden Shakespeare has developed a reputation as the pre-eminent critical edition of Shakespeare for its exceptional scholarship, reflected in the thoroughness of each volume. An introduction comprehensively contextualizes the play, chronicling the history and culture that surrounded and influenced Shakespeare at the time of its writing and performance, and closely surveying critical approaches to the work. Detailed appendices address problems like dating and casting, and analyze the differing Quarto and Folio sources. A full commentary by one or more of the play's foremost contemporary scholars illuminates the text, glossing unfamiliar terms and drawing from an abundance of research and expertise to explain allusions and significant background information. Highly informative and accessible, Arden offers the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to a reader.
Call Number: PR2828.A2 M34 2006
ISBN: 1903436834
Publication Date: 2005-09-26
Pericles by William Shakespeare; Roger Warren (Editor); George Wilkins; Macd. P. Jackson (As told to); Gary Taylor (As told to)The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- 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- On-page commentary and notes explains meaning, staging, language, and allusions- Detailed introduction explains the complex textual situation and Shakespeare's probable collaboration with George Wilkins- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship'
Call Number: PR2830.A2 W37 2008
ISBN: 9780199536832
Publication Date: 2008-10-15
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare; H. J. Oliver (Editor)Audiences have always delighted in the robust comedy and verbal inventiveness of The Taming of the Shrew. It has survived many adaptations ranging from, probably, the play printed in 1594 as The Taming of the Shrew through several eighteenth-century versions to modern-dress productions andtransformations into ballet, musical, film, and opera. Introducing this new edition, H.J. Oliver pays attention to the play's theatrical virtues while also providing a deeply considered study of its textual problems, structural complexities, and interpretive challenges.
Call Number: PR2832.A2 O4 2008
ISBN: 9780199536528
Publication Date: 2008-08-01
The Tempest by William Shakespeare; Stephen Orgel (Editor)Performed variously as escapist fantasy, celebratory fiction, and political allegory, The Tempest is one of the plays in which Shakespeare's genius as a poetic dramatist found its fullest expression. Significantly, it was placed first when published in the First Folio of 1623, and is nowgenerally seen as the playwright's most penetrating statement about his art.Stephen Orgel's wide-ranging introduction examines changing attitudes to The Tempest, and reassesses the evidence behind the various readings. He focuses on key characters and their roles and relationships, as well as on the dramatic, historical, and political context, finding the play to be bothmore open and more historically determined than traditional views have allowed.
Call Number: PR2833.A2 O74 2008
ISBN: 9780199535903
Publication Date: 2008-06-15
Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare; Kenneth Muir (Editor)Troilus and Cressida is perhaps Shakespeare's most philosophical play, and its preoccupation with war, sex, and time has seemed peculiarly relevant since the First World War. Fine productions have demonstrated the play's theatrical power, and critics have explored and illuminated its ideasand its exceptionally complex language. Kenneth Muir, in his introduction, sets the play in its historical context, discusses its odd career in the theatre, examines Shakespeare's handling of his multiple sources, and assesses the contribution of interpretative criticism to a deeper understanding of this sombre examination of a fallenworld.
Call Number: PR2836.A2 M84 2008
ISBN: 9780199536535
Publication Date: 2008-08-01
The Twelfth Night by Elizabeth Schafer (Editor); William ShakespeareFor four centuries Twelfth Night has inspired theatre directors and performers: some have found class war; some have seen Malvolio as a tragic hero; some have found a passive Viola and others have found an action woman. Whether a production's emphasis is on gender bending, festivity, or trying to reinvent Shakespeare as Chekhov, the sheer variety of Twelfth Nights on offer over the centuries attests to the play's power as a stimulus to theatrical creativity. The dazzling range of the Twelfth Nights considered here includes the productively wayward as well as the conventionally respectable, productions which play to the contemporary market as well as those that seek to flout tradition. This indispensable stage history covers changing fashions in the fortunes of Twelfth Night, and includes a survey of a wide variety of theatrical interpretations of the play in the English-speaking world.
Call Number: PR2837.A2 S33 2009
ISBN: 9780521532204
Publication Date: 2009-06-25
The Winter's Tale by John Pitcher (Editor); William Shakespeare; H. R. Woudhuysen (Contribution by); David Scott Kastan (Contribution by); Richard Proudfoot (Contribution by); Ann Thompson (Contribution by)One of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione. John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.
Call Number: PR2839.A2 P58 2010
ISBN: 9781903436356
Publication Date: 2010-08-01
Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare; Michael Neill (Editor)Representing the full richness of Shakespeare's writing, the World's Classics offer the best value critical editions of his plays. Authoritative and up to date, they are `not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare'.
Call Number: PR2802.A2 N45 2008
ISBN: 9780199535781
Publication Date: 2008-06-15
Coriolanus by William Shakespeare; R. B. Parker (Editor)Coriolanus is perhaps the most brilliant political play ever written. Set in Ancient Rome, it remains a gripping psychological study of the relationship between personality and politics. This new edition considers the social and political conditions in which Shakespeare was writing as well as examining the connection between politics, psychology, and the family.
Call Number: PR2805.A2 P35 2008
ISBN: 9780199535804
Publication Date: 2008-05-15
Hamlet by William Shakespeare; G. R. Hibbard (Editor)Hamlet's combination of violence and introspection is unusual among Shakespeare's tragedies. It is also full of curious riddles and fascinating paradoxes, making it one of his most widely discussed plays.Professor Hibbard's illuminating and original introduction explains the process by which variant texts were fused in the eighteenth century to create the most commonly used text of today. Drawing on both critical and theatrical history, he shows how this gusion makes Hamlet seem a much more'problematic' play than it was when it originally appeared in the First Folio of 1623.The Oxford Shakespeare edition presents a radically new text, based on that First Folio, which printed Shakespeare's own revision of an earlier version. The result is a 'theatrical' and highly practical edition for students and actors alike.
Call Number: PR2807.A2 H5 2008
ISBN: 9780199535811
Publication Date: 2008-06-15
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare; Arthur L. Humphreys (Editor)Julius Caesar's exciting plot, brilliant rhetoric, and searching characterisation have made it one of Shakespeare's most popular plays with both readers and theatre-goers. Introducing this thoroughly reconsidered edition, Arthur Humphreys provides a fresh look at the play's date and its place in the Shakespeare canon and examines Shakespeare's transmutation of history into drama. He investigates the play's ethical and moral concerns in a section on Roman values andanalyses its fortunes in performance, from its immediately successful first staging to modern productions for cinema, television, and stage.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare; Nicholas Brooke (Editor)Dark and violent, Macbeth is also the most theatrically spectacular of Shakespeare's tragedies. Indeed, for 250 years - until early this century - it was performed with grand operatic additions set to baroque music.In his introduction Nicholas Brooke relates the play's chaning fortunes to changes within society and the theatre and investigates the sources of its enduring appeal. He examines its many layers of illusion and interprets its linguistic turns and echoes, arguing that the earliest surviving text isan adaptation, perhaps carried out by Shakespeare himself in collaboration with Thomas Middleton.This fully annotated edition reconsiders textual and staging problems, appraises past and present critical views, and represents a major contribution to our understanding of Macbeth.
Call Number: PR2823.A2 B76 2008
ISBN: 9780199535835
Publication Date: 2008-05-15
Othello by William Shakespeare; Michael Neill (Editor)The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- A new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- Extensive introduction gives full attention to the play's bold treatment of racial themes, gender, and social relations- Detailed performance history designed to meet the needs of theatre professionals- On-page commentary and notes explain language, word-play, and staging- Appendices on music in the play and a full translation of the Italian novella from which the story derives- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'
Call Number: PR2829.A2 N45 2008
ISBN: 9780199535873
Publication Date: 2008-06-15
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare; Burton Raffel (Editor); Harold Bloom (Contribution by)Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most read and beloved of all stage works. Now the most extensively annotated version of the play to date makes it completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. The new edition is a rich resource for students, teachers, and the general reader. Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. This version of Romeo and Juliet is unparalleled for its thoroughness and adherence to sound linguistic principles. In his introduction, Raffel provides historical and social contexts that increase the reader's understanding of the play. And in a concluding essay, Harold Bloom argues that Romeo and Juliet is unmatched in the world's literature "as a vision of an uncompromising love that perishes of its own idealism and intensity."
Call Number: PR2878.R6 R34 2004
ISBN: 0300104537
Publication Date: 2004-07-11
Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare; John Jowett (Editor); Thomas MiddletonThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- A new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- On-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, language, and allusions- Detailed introduction provides a full account of the play's performance history and explores issues of gender, gift-theory, and ecology- Appendices include source materials and a chronology of major productions worldwide- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'
Call Number: PR2834.A2 J69 2008
ISBN: 9780199537440
Publication Date: 2009-02-01
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare; Eugene M. Waith (Editor)Titus Andronicus was the young Shakespeare's audacious, sporadically brilliant experiment in sensational tragedy. Its horrors are notorious, but its powerful poetry of grief is the work of a true tragic poet. Introducing this edition, E.M. Waith provides a fresh view of the play in its historical context as well as an original discussion of the famous `Peacham' drawing - the only surviving contemporary Shakespeare illustration. An illustrated account of performances, notably Peter Brook's productionwith Oliver as Titus, leads to an assessment of the play's qualities in the light of its critical reception. The eighteenth-century version of the play's probable source is given in one of the appendices.
Call Number: PR2835.A2 W34 2008
ISBN: 9780199536108
Publication Date: 2008-06-15
Henry IV by William Shakespeare; David Bevington (Editor)As Henry's throne is threatened by rebel forces, England is divided. The characters reflect these oppositions, with Hal and Hotspur vying for position, and Falstaff leading Hal away from his father and towards excess. During Shakespeare's lifetime Henry IV, Part I was his most reprinted play, and it remains enormously popular with theatregoers and readers. Falstaff still towers among Shakespeare's comic inventions as he did in the late 1590s. David Bevington's introduction discusses the play in both peformance and criticism from Shakespeare's time to our own, illustrating the variety of interpretations of which the text is capable. He analyses the play's richly textured language in a detailed commentary on individual words and phrasesand clearly explains its historical background.
Henry V by William Shakespeare; Gary Taylor (Editor)Henry V, the climax of Shakespeare's sequence of English history plays, is an inspiring, often comic celebration of a young warrior-king. But it is also a study of the costly exhilarations of war, and of the penalties as well as the glories of human greatness. Introducing this brilliantly innovative edition, Gary Taylor shows how Shakespeare shaped his historical material, examines controversial critical interpretations, discusses the play's fluctuating fortunes in performance, and analyses the range and variety of Shakespeare's characterization. Thefirst Folio text is radically rethought, making original use of the First Quarto (1600).
Call Number: PR2812.A2 T28 2008
ISBN: 9780199536511
Publication Date: 2008-08-01
Henry VI by William Shakespeare; Michael Taylor (Editor)The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- On-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, language, and allusions- Detailed introduction considers the first performance in 1592 in relation to the 1623 folio, structure, theatrical history, and the role of women in the play- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'
Call Number: PR2814.A2 T39 2008
ISBN: 9780199537105
Publication Date: 2008-12-15
Henry VI by William Shakespeare; Roger Warren (Editor)The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the works for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, language and allusions- detailed introduction considers composition, sources, performances, and changing critical attitudes to the play- textual introduction reconsiders the complex relationship between the two original texts- illustrated with production photographs and related art- full index to introduction and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.' Times Literary Supplement
Call Number: PR2815.A2 W37 2008
ISBN: 9780199537426
Publication Date: 2008-11-15
Henry VI by William Shakespeare; Randall Martin (Editor)The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers.- a new, modern-spelling text, based on the 1623 First Folio - detailed introduction considers composition, sources, historical events, performances and changing critical attitudes to the play- on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, identify historical figures and events, and much else- appendices include extracts from the chronicle sources and new research on the use of boy actors in Elizabethan performance- illustrated with production photographs and related art- full index to introduction and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.' Times Literary Supplement
King John by William Shakespeare; A. R. Braunmuller (Editor)This important new edition of one of Shakespeare's more neglected plays offers a wide-ranging critical introduction, concentrating on its relevance to Elizabethan political issues and on the role played in it by women, the family, and the law. There is a comprehensive stage history, and fulland helpful annotation pays special attention to the play's language and staging.
Call Number: PR2818.A2 B7 2008
ISBN: 9780199537143
Publication Date: 2008-12-15
Richard II by William Shakespeare; Anthony B. Dawson; Paul YachninThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offer authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers* a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from the early texts* wide-ranging introduction discusses the play's historical contexts, political significance, characters, sources, and language* detailed stage history designed to meet the needs of students and theatre professionals* on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, allusions, staging, and much else* illustrated with production photographs, historical portraits, textual facsimiles, and map* full index to introduction and commentary* durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare' Times Literary Supplement
Call Number: PR2820.A2 D39 2011
ISBN: 9780199602285
Publication Date: 2011-09-30
The Oxford Shakespeare - Richard III by William Shakespeare; John Jowett (Editor)Richard III is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays on the stage and has been adapted successfully for film. This new and innovative edition recognizes the play's pre-eminence as a performance work: a perspective that informs every aspect of the editing. Challenging traditional practice,the text is based on the 1597 Quarto which, it is argued, brings us closest to the play as it would have been staged in Shakespeare's theatre. The introduction, which is illustrated, explores the long performance history from Shakespeare's time to the present. Its critical engagement with the playresponds to recent historicist and gender-based approaches. The commentary gives detailed explication of matters of language, staging, text, and historical and cultural contexts, providing coverage that is both carefully balanced and alert to nuance of meaning. Documentation of the extensive textual variants is organized for maximum clarity: the readings of the Folio and the Quarto are presented in separate banks, and more specialist information is given at the back of the book. Appendices also include selected passages from the main source and a specialindex of actors and other theatrical personnel.