A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's most enchanting comedy, and in the twentieth century it has become perhaps his most popular play. It contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest poetry and is one of his most complex and effective dramatic structures. After an historical survey of the Dream from Shakespeare's time through to the nineteenth century, Jay Halio focuses primarily on twentieth century productions and adaptations, for film and television as well as for the stage. Chapters are devoted to productions by Max Reinhardt, Peter Hall, Robert Lepage, and especially to Peter Brook's...

The Henry VI plays are exciting, dark plays. In their day, they were among Shakespeare's most popular works, but they fell out of fashion - until the twentieth century, when the theatre rediscovered the plays' potency and their uncanny resonance with contemporary issues. In a story which stretches over thirty years, Shakespeare dramatises the fall of the House of Lancaster and creates some of his most compelling characters, among them the Queen Margaret and the wildly ambitious Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the future Richard III). With these plays, Shakespeare shows 'England bleeding'. This...