Exam board: AQALevel: GCSESubject: HistoryFirst teaching: September 2016First exams: Summer 2018Target success in AQA GCSE (9-1) History with this proven formula for effective, structured revision.Key content coverage is combined with exam-style questions, revision tasks and practical tips to create a revision guide that students can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge.With My Revision Notes every stude...

King Lear has ruled for many years. As age overtakes him, he divides his kingdom amongst his children. Misjudging their loyalty, he soon finds himself stripped of all the trappings of state, wealth and power that had defined him.Arden Performance Editions are ideal for anyone engaging with a Shakespeare play in performance. With clear facing-page notes giving definitions of words, easily accessible information about key textual variants, lineation, metrical ambigui...

Simon Russell Beale discusses playing Cassius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in this ebook taken from Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 - Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles.In each volume of the Shakespeare On Stage series, a leading actor takes us behind the scenes of a landmark Shakespearean production, recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role. They lead us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character wor...

'The Charioteer remains compelling both as a snapshot of a particular - and particularly fascinating - cultural moment, and as a deeply romantic story of love fulfilled against the odds. It has all those qualities that make Mary Renault so memorable as a novelist: craft, subtlety, intelligence, and a terrific natural sympathy with the intricacies of honour and desire' SARAH WATERS'An explosive and courageous book' SIMON RUSSELL BEALE

Simon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-blind, he has been captivated by Shakespeare.In A Piece of Work, Russell Beale tries to get under the skin of the playwright and find out wha...

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world’s surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world’s greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unli...

'Extraordinary. A fabulous read' SIMON SCHAMA'Wonderful. He writes with eloquence and wit' NICHOLAS HYTNERSimon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-bl...

Two leading English classical actors, Juliet Stevenson and Simon Russell Beale, open the doors to eight important plays, including Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, and All’s Well That Ends Well. These newly written introductions by David Timson have proved eminently useful for young audiences coming to Shakespeare for the first time. Explained clearly, the introductions also feature numerous excerpts from the plays themselves.

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-...

A Jewish boy kills a Nazi by the Polish ghetto. He must escape the Third Reich, at all costs.'Trust me, this is a great true story' - Ken Follett'This is an unbelievable story that is all completely true. The life described is astonishing. John Carr has done an extraordinary and riveting job uncovering the real father behind the dad he thought he knew.' - Lord Tony Hall'Utterly Compelling. It is an extraordinary tale, brilli...

The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio’s answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Richard III is one of Shakespeare's enduring villains as the troubled and troubling figure at the heart of this popular succession drama. Traversing the familiar terrain of scheming plots, proposals, betrayals and kingly power, this edition is presented in an easy to read format with notes for performance and rehearsal by directors and actors. It is edited by academic and director, Abigail Rokison-Woodall and the leading Shakespearean actor, Sir Simon Russell Beal...