Richard Madelaine explains how the challenging complexity of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra has at different times inhibited or promoted its success on the stage, and accounts for the remarkable resurgence of performances in the past twenty years. His introduction and commentary, presented alongside the New Cambridge edition of the text, provide the most detailed, extensive and up-to-date history of the play on stage and screen, in and beyond Britain. In the process he reveals not only the rich plurality of possible readings of the play, but also changing attitudes to Shakespeare.

This edition of The Tempest is the first dedicated to its stage history. Dymkowski examines four centuries of mainstream, regional, and fringe productions in Britain, nineteenth- and twentieth-century American stagings, and recent Australian, Canadian, French, Italian, and Japanese productions. She analyzes the cultural significance of changes in theatrical representation, eg. when and why Caliban began to be represented by a black actor, and Ariel became a man's role rather than a woman's. The commentary annotates each line of the play with details about acting, setting, textual alteration...

The shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is compressed, complex and ambiguous and has been interpreted in various ways. This Introduction describes major productions and performers that include David Garrick, Sarah Siddons, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Laurence Olivier. A detailed commentary accompanying the play's text describes how specific episodes and passages have been interpreted in the theater.

The shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is compressed, complex and ambiguous and has been interpreted in various ways. This Introduction describes major productions and performers that include David Garrick, Sarah Siddons, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Laurence Olivier. A detailed commentary accompanying the play's text describes how specific episodes and passages have been interpreted in the theater.

This second edition of Othello updates the first (Bristol Classical Press, 1987), both chronologically and conceptually. It considers productions of the last seventeen years, and reconsiders earlier material in the light of more recent critical attitudes. Post-colonial and feminist studies have had an impact on the way Othello is perceived and interpreted. Shakespeare himself has not escaped the charge of racism. Equally, the position of Desdemona has received more focused attention.

This volume describes the theatrical fortunes of A Midsummer Night's Dream on the British stage, from the 1590s to the 1990s. A substantial introduction traces the rise of the play from theatrical neglect in the eighteenth century through the spectacular productions of the nineteenth century to its current high status. The authoritative Cambridge text of the play is accompanied by detailed notes on actors' interpretations, settings, textual alterations, and the conceptions of individual directors from David Garrick to Robert Lepage. It will be invaluable to students of Shakespeare in...

This is the first stage history of Shakespeare's King Henry V to cover the play's theatrical life since 1599. Staging this play is a political act, and the substantial Introduction traces its theatrical interventions into conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam and the Falklands. The stage and film history raises interpretative questions--is Henry V an epic of English nationalism, a knowing and cynical piece of power politics, or an anti-war manifesto? The volume also includes the play text, illustrations and detailed footnotes about major performances.

This is the first stage history of Shakespeare's King Henry V to cover the play's theatrical life since 1599. Staging this play is a political act, and the substantial Introduction traces its theatrical interventions into conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam and the Falklands. The stage and film history raises interpretative questions--is Henry V an epic of English nationalism, a knowing and cynical piece of power politics, or an anti-war manifesto? The volume also includes the play text, illustrations and detailed footnotes about major performances.

This edition of Much Ado About Nothing focuses wholly on the play in performance. Shifting trends in the production of this popular drama are analyzed in relation to the culture of each period since Shakespeare's time, with particular attention to gender issues. A commentary alongside the New Cambridge edition of the text recreates in lively detail interpretations of each passage in a variety of British, American, Canadian stage, film and TV productions. An essential resource for students, teachers and performers, this is also an illuminating book for theatergoers.

From Burbage at the Globe to Branagh on film, this edition tells the story of Hamlet in production, relating stage interpretations to developments in the theater, in literary criticism and in society. This detailed stage history records an ongoing process of discovery, as successive performers have found what it is in the play that will speak most powerfully to the audiences of their own times. The introduction focuses not only on star Hamlets, but on whole productions of the play--including supporting players and, in this century, direction and design.