This is the second volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fourteen actors describe the Shakespearean roles they played in productions between 1982 and 1987. A brief biographical note is provided for each of the contributors and an introduction places the essays in the context of the Stratford and London stages, and of the music and design for the particular productions.

This is the third volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Thirteen actors describe the Shakespearean roles they played in productions between 1987 and 1991. The plays covered include Hamlet, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, and important theatrical rarities such as Cymbeline, Titus Andronicus, King John, and the Henry VI plays in the Royal Shakespeare Company's highly successful adaptation retitled The Plantagenets.

This is the fifth volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre on their interpretations of major Shakespearian roles. Twelve essays analyze fourteen roles in twelve different productions between 1999 and 2002.

Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the most popular of Elizabethan plays, entertaining, racy and vivid in its characterisation. Revealing a vital portrait of Elizabethan London and the interaction of social classes within the city, its social commentary is on the whole optimistic, though darker tones are discernible. The play has the whole optimistic, though darker tones are discernible. The play has had a lively history of performance on both the professional and amateur stage; the roles of Simon and Madgy Eyre in particular have proved worthy vehicles for the talents of such...

This is the fourth volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Twelve actors including Sir Derek Jacobi, Jane Lapotaire and Julian Glover describe the Shakespearian roles they played in productions between 1992 and 1997. The plays covered include The Merchant of Venice, Love's Labour's Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, The Winter's Tale, and Romeo and Juliet, among others. The essays divide equally among comedies, histories, and tragedies, with emphasis among the comedies on those notoriously difficult "clown" roles. A brief biographical note is provided for each of the...