Classic plays / drama

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Book SynopsisThis landmark publication is printed in clear legible type. Each play has its own comprehensive introduction as well as extensive expert annotations. Highlighted areas show where lines have been altered over time and also shows where verse has been changed to prose in the past (but not here!) The original compositions are marked and folio clues are highlighted.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis'By far the best edition of King Lear - in respect of both textual and other matters - that we now have.'John Lyon, English Language Notes'This volume is a treasure-trove of precise information and stimulating comments on practically every aspect of the Lear-universe. I know of no other edition which I would recommend with such confidence: to students, professional colleagues and also the 'educated public'.'Dieter Mehl, Shakespeare Jahrbuch, vol 134

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Book SynopsisA quirky collection of true stories from the weird and wonderful world of Shakespearean theatre, featuring distinguished actors falling off stages, fluffed lines, performances in the dark, and why you must never, ever say the name of that Scottish play, especially if you are Peter O'Toole. A fascinating playbill of stories from the weird and wonderful world of Shakespearean theatre through the centuries, including distinguished actors falling off stages, fluffed lines, performances in the dark, and why you must never, ever say the name of that Scottish play, especially if you are Peter O'Toole. Discover a wealth of Shakespearean shenanigans over the years, including the terrible behaviour of the groundlings at Shakespeare's Globe, how the 'rude mechanicals' in A Midsummer Night's Dream got recast as a bunch of ladies from the WI, and how Dame Maggie Smith got even with Sir Laurence Olivier. Published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, this treasury of curious tales is a must-read for all Shakespeare lovers and theatre fans. Word count: 45,000

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Book SynopsisMark Antony, a Roman soldier descended from Hercules, has a controversial affair with Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen. Their love story intertwines with political intrigue, showcasing the blurred lines between personal and state matters. "Antony and Cleopatra" is a timeless tale of passion and power struggles.

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Book SynopsisTitus shoots his arrows bearing petitions for justice to the gods; Claudius asks ‘what form of prayer can serve my turn?’; Lear wishes he could crack the vault of heaven with his prayers. Again and again, Shakespeare dramatises the scenario of the unheard prayer, in which the one who prays does so full well in the knowledge that no one is listening, interested, or even there at all. The scenario is keyed to the anxieties that surrounded the act of praying itself, so full as it was with controversy, the centrepiece of sectarian dispute over what was good and bad religion. This study reads the unheard prayer scenario as itself an appeal for a vision of tolerance, unobtainable perhaps, but nevertheless desired and imagined.Trade Review"Spectators having read Sterrett’s study are now ready to understand the full and complex implications of the visual display of prayers onstage. Ultimately, they are made to realize that Shakespeare actually fashioned a poetics of prayer aimed at distancing himself from sectarian disputes, while reflecting on the meaning of divine sanction and expressing the religious anxieties of his contemporaries." Sophie Chiari, Aix-Marseille Université (LERMA), Moreana 50 (2010) "Acknowledging the mixture of Catholic, Protestant, and classical elements in the plays as well as the ongoing debates about Shakespeare's own confessional commitments, Sterrett argues persuasively that Shakespearean drama yearns to reconcile sectarian differences. In passionate yet judicious prose, Sterrett illuminates the dramaturgy of prayer as both object of controversy and equipment for living in order to tune his project to Shakespeare’s entertainment of pluralist futures." Julia Reinhard Lupton, University of California, Irvine, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 54:2 "Local readings are often of great interest and value, and parts of this study participate significantly in the present critical attempt to understand Shakespeare’s theological positions." Ian McAdam, University of Lethbridge, Renaissance Quarterly 66:4

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