Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide

by Michael Dobson (Editor), Stanley Wells (Editor)

Overview

Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide is your essential companion to all Shakespeare's extant works (as well as those known to be lost). Two of our most eminent Shakespeare scholars guide us through his sonnets, his poems, and his plays, providing the reader with detailed scene-by-scene plot synopses, cast lists, notes on the texts and sources, discussions of artistic features, and accounts of significant productions on stage and screen.

Derived from the acclaimed Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, and fully updated to reflect the latest scholarship and most recent notable productions, it is the ideal compact guide for students and theatre-goers needing a helpful plot summary, or readers wishing to browse on fascinating background information.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198855231
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2020
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 5.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Dobson, Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham,Stanley Wells, Honorary President, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon

Michael Dobson is Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, a member of the Council of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and an honorary governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company: his previous appointments include posts at Oxford, Harvard, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of London, and he has held fellowships and visiting appointments in California, Sweden and China. His publications include The Making of the National Poet (1992), England's Elizabeth (with Nicola Watson, 2002), Performing Shakespeare's Tragedies Today (2006), and Shakespeare and Amateur Performance (2011).

Sir Stanley Wells, CBE, FRSL, is Honorary President, Life Trustee, and former Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He was Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, from 1988-1997, and is now Emeritus Professor. He is an Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has been General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare since 1978 and is General Editor of the Penguin Shakespeare. One of the most distinguished Shakespearian scholars currently working, his publications include The Oxford Dictionary of Shakespeare (1998), Shakespeare: The Poet and his Plays (2001), The Oxford Shakespeare: King Lear (2001), Shakespeare For All Time (2002), Shakespeare & Co (2006), Shakespeare, Sex, and Love (2010), Great Shakespeare Actors (2015), William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction (2015), and Shakespeare's Tragedies: A Very Short Introduction (2017).

Table of Contents

A Short Life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) xi

Aids True (Henry VII) 1

All's Well That Ends Well 9

Antony and Cleopatra 16

As You Like It 26

Cardenio 35

The Comedy of Errors 36

Coriolanus 43

Cymbeline, King of Britain 51

The First Part of the Contention of the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (2 Henry VI) 59

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 67

Henry IV Part 1 77

Henry IV Part 2 86

Henry V 93

Henry VI Part 1 103

Julius Caesar 111

King John 119

King Lear 125

A Lover's Complaint 135

Love's Labour's Lost 137

Love's Labour's Won 143

Macbeth 144

Measure for Measure 154

The Merchant of Venice 162

The Merry Wives of Windsor 170

A Midsummer Night's Dream 177

Much Ado About Nothing 186

Othello 193

Pericles 203

The Phoenix and Turtle 209

The Rape of Lucrece 211

The Reign of King Edward the Third (Edward III) 215

Richard Duke of York (3 Henry VI) 221

Richard II 228

Richard III 235

Romeo and Juliet 245

Sir Thomas More 255

Sonnets 256

The Taming of the Shrew 263

The Tempest 271

Timon of Athens 280

Titus Andronicus 286

Troilus and Cressida 293

Twelfth Night; or, What You Will 301

The Two Gentlemen of Verona 310

The Two Noble Kinsmen 316

Venus and Adonis 323

The Winter's Tale 327

Shakespeare's Life, Works, and Reception: A Partial Chronology, 1564-2020 337

Family Tree of Characters in the English Histories 348

Some Suggested Further Reading 350

Editorial Reviews

"A thorough and accessible resource..." — Nick Smurthwaite, Drama & Theatre Magazine

"Distilled and updated from OUP's earlier Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, this book would be a fine starting point for anyone wanting or needing to know more about the man and his work." — Susan Elkin, School Librarian

From the Publisher