Books in The New Cambridge Shakespeare series

Famous actors have appeared as this play's sparring lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, from David Garrick's time in the eighteenth century to the present. Angela Stock has added a new section to the Introduction where she reviews the romantic and darker, more cynical aspects of the play in the context of late twentieth-century stage, film and critical interpretations. She also tackles the critical fortunes of Hero and Claudio as they reflect the play's concerns with sexuality and misogyny, eavesdropping and deception. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-22152-8 First Edition Pb (1988): 0-521-29367-7

Blakemore Evans' performance history helps readers visualize the stage action of Romeo and Juliet and alerts them to difficulties in language, thought and staging. For this updated edition Thomas Moisan adds an account of important professional theatre productions and the large output of scholarly criticism on the play in recent years. The Reading List has been revised and augmented to reflect the edition's expanded coverage. First Edition Hb (1984): 0-521-22223-0 First Edition Pb (1984): 0-521-29405-3

King Richard III is one of Shakespeare's most popular and frequently-performed plays. Janis Lull's introduction to this new edition, which is based on the First Folio, emphasizes the play's tragic themes--individual identity, determinism and choice--and stresses the importance of women's roles. A thorough performance history of stage and film versions shows how the text has been cut, rewritten and reshaped by directors and actors to enhance the role of Richard at the expense of other parts, especially those of the women.

For this updated critical edition of King Lear, Jay Halio has added a new introductory section on recent stage, film, and critical interpretations of the play. He provides a comprehensive account of Shakespeare's sources and the literary, political and folkloric influences at work in the play; a detailed reading of the action; and a substantial stage history of major productions. An updated reading list completes the edition. First Edition Hb (1992) 0-521-33111-0 First Edition Pb (1992) 0-521-33729-1

MACBETH, Shakespeare's last great tragedy, has remained one of the most popular plays since its first performance in 1606 - probably in front of King James. This exciting audiobook production is directed with fresh imagination by Fiona Shaw who breaks the conventional strait jacket that has hampered the development of Shakespeare on audio. We are as much in the 21st century as in medieval Scotland - the tensions, the politics, the struggle for power and dark ambition is part of our lives. This is also reflected in the sound world, with modern machinery and tanks. MACBETH is part of Naxos AudioBooks' exciting series of complete dramatisations of the works of Shakespeare, in conjunction with Cambridge University Press. It uses the New Cambridge Shakespeare text, as used by the Royal Shakespeare Company and educational institutions across the world.

The North Face of Shakespeare argues that successful active work arises directly from the extraordinary dramatic power of Shakespeare's writing - from its language and poetry and its use of narrative and character. The book invites teachers and drama practitioners to think of their classroom as a stage, with their students as both actors and audience. It proposes that the text can be presented as drama - whether in quite simple ways sitting at desks or in open space in the classroom or workshop, the text can be spoken and performed by every learner in the room. The aim is for students to take away an engaged and secure understanding of that text to use in their own reading and study.

A new section of the Introduction to this updated edition considers important professional theater productions and the large output of scholarly criticism on the play which have appeared in recent years. The Reading List has been revised and augmented to reflect the scope of the revised edition. First Edition Hb (1985): 0-521-22194-3 First Edition Pb (1985): 0-521-29389-8

This third edition of Othello offers a completely new introduction by Christina Luckyj, providing readers with a nuanced understanding of early modern theatre and culture, and demonstrating how careful attention to Shakespeare's language, staging and dramaturgy can open up fresh interpretations of the play. Tracing critical and performance trends up to the present day, Luckyj shows how the drama taps into contemporary cultural paradoxes surrounding blackness, marriage, and politics to create a powerful double perspective, illuminating the creative and destructive power of stories and of human love itself. Supplemented by an updated reading list and extensive illustrations, this edition also features revised commentary notes, offering the very best in contemporary criticism of this great tragedy.

This edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream 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.

The Tempest is one of the most suggestive, yet most elusive of all Shakespeare's plays, and has provoked a wide range of critical interpretations. It is a magical romance, yet deeply and problematically embedded in seventeenth-century debates about authority and power. In this updated edition, David Lindley has thoroughly revised the introduction and reading list to take account of the latest directions in criticism and performance. Including a new section on casting in recent productions, Lindley's introduction explores the complex questions this raises about colonization, racial and gender stereotypes, and the nature of the theatrical experience. Careful attention is also given to the play's dramatic form, stagecraft, and use of music and spectacle, to demonstrate its uniquely experimental nature.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. This third edition of Twelfth Night retains the text edited and annotated by Elizabeth Story Donno for the first edition of 1985, and features an updated introduction by Penny Gay, which focuses on recent scholarship and performance history. Building on her Introduction to the second edition, Gay stresses the play's theatricality, its elaborate linguistic games and its complex use of Ovidian myths. She analyses the delicate balance Shakespeare strikes in Twelfth Night between romance and realism, and explores representations of gender, sexuality and identity in the text. A selection of new photographs completes the edition.