Shakespeare’s use of location governs his dramas. Some he was personally familiar with, like Windsor; some he knew through his imagination, like Kronborg Castle (‘Elsinore’); some matter because Shakespeare’s plays were performed there, like Hampton Court and the Great Hall of the Middle Temple. Shakespeare’s plays are powerfully shaped by their sense of place, and the location becomes an unacknowledged actor. This book is about the locations that he used for his plays, each of which the a...

Few playwrights have been more slandered, abused or honoured in performance than William Shakespeare.First published in 1992, this collection of 300 stories focuses on Shakespeare’s plays on stage. Organised chronologically, it offers the reader the opportunity to witness the changes in theatrical approaches to Shakespeare from their own time to the present day.This book will be of interest to those studying theatre, but also to those fascinated by the Shakespeare tradition...

First published in 1981.Each of Shakespeare's plays is in a continuous state of development in performance. This book examines major changes whilst focusing on six plays in detail: Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, Henry V, Hamlet and Twelfth Night.Changing Styles in Shakespeare looks at representative and key productions to trace the evolution of each play on today's stage, illustrating how production changes relate to a changed perce...

For producers and directors planning a production, several questions inevitably arise: Which play is appropriate for the contemporary audience? Should the text and setting be altered? Twelve leading contemporary directors answer these questions in interviews in this book and shed light on what Shakespeare means to them and to their audiences. Originally published in 1977.

In this lucid and original study, first published in 1972, Ralph Berry discusses the ten comedies that run from The Comedy of Errors to Twelfth Night. Berry’s purpose is to identify the form of each play by relating the governing idea of the play to the action that expresses it. To this end the author employs a variety of standpoints and techniques, and taken together, these chapters present a lively and coherent view of Shakespeare’s techniques, concerns, and development...

This book, first published in 1985, explores the consciousness and the experience of Shakespeare’s audience. First describing the stage’s physical impact, Ralph Berry then goes on to explore the social or tribal consciousness of the audience in certain plays. The title finishes by examining the masque – the salient form of the Jacobean theatre. This title will be of interest to students of literature and theatre studies.

Now in its fifth edition, this guide to project work continues to be an indispensable resource for all students undertaking research.Guiding the reader right through from preliminary stages to completion, The Research Project: How to write it sets out in clear and concise terms the main tasks involved in doing a research project, covering:* choosing a topic* using the library effectively* taking notes* shaping and composing the project* p...

First published in 1978, this book represents a study of the ways in which Shakespeare exploits the possibilities of metaphor. In a series of studies ranging from the early to the mature Shakespeare, the author concentrates on metaphor as a controlling structure — the extent to which a certain metaphoric idea informs and organises the drama. These studies turn constantly to the relations between symbol and metaphor, literal and figurative, and examine key plays such as Richard III, Kin...

The Art of John Webster, first published in 1972, is a study of the three extant plays of Webster known to be solely his work. These plays are seen as attempts to achieve in literature the effects of the baroque, a term which related Webster to the larger developments of European art. Their content is analysed in terms of a consistent opposition between evil and the law. The book seeks to re-establish a base for the claims that must be made for Webster as a serious artist. This ti...

These studies take stage history as a means of knowing the play. Half of the studies deal with casting - doubling, chorus and the crowd, the star of Hamlet and Measure for Measure. Then the transformations of dramatis personae are analyzed and The Tempest is viewed through the changing relationships of Prospero, Ariel and Caliban. Some of Shakespeare’s most original strategies for audience control are studied, such as Cordelia's asides in King Lear, ...

Recapturing Eternity is about the disillusioning and painful journey that many saints are presently experiencing in their search for God. It was written for the misfits who have dared to ask the hard questions. It’s for my fellow trouble makers, who wonder if the Western church’s current trajectory is spiraling in the wrong direction. This book is for untold thousands of saints who feel their hearts rebelling against it. Recapturing Eternity is for those with a nagging suspicion that our c...

This ebook is an excerpt from Contested Will by James Shapiro, and originally appeared as the last section titled "Shakespeare." In this chapter, Shapiro succintly and eloquently makes the case for why no one else but Shakespeare could have written Shakespeare's plays.