Shakespeare: A Playgoer's & Reader's Guide

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).

...crammed with information of the most detailed kind. One particularly magnificent section gives the entire chronology of every one of the families involved in the history plays... This is a book with no messing about. It gives its information clearly and in a pithy manner which enables the reader to absorb a great deal of information without too much cerebral effort...this little book has a wonderfully powerful kick.

• PrefaceAll Is TrueAll's Well That Ends WellAntony and CleopatraAs You Like ItCardenioThe Comedy of ErrorsCoriolanusCymbelineEdward IIIFirst Part of the Contention of the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (2 Henry VI)HamletHenry IV Part 1Henry IV Part 2Henry VHenry VI Part 1Julius CaesarKing JohnKing LearA Lover's ComplaintLove's Labour's LostLove's Labour's WonMacbethMeasure for MeasureThe Merchant of VeniceThe Merry Wives of WindsorA Midsummer's Night DreamMuch Ado About NothingOthelloPericlesThe Phoenix and the TurtleThe Rape of LucreceRichard Duke of York (3 Henry VI)Richard IIRichard IIIRomeo and JulietSir Thomas MoreSonnetsThe Taming of the ShrewThe TempestTimon of AthensTitus AndronicusTroilus and CressidaTwelfth NightThe Two Gentlemen of VeronaThe Two Noble KinsmenVenus and AdonisThe Winter's TaleA Short Life of William ShakespeareShakespeare's Life, Works, and Reception: A Partial Chronology, 1564-2020Family Tree of Characters in the English HistoriesSome Suggested Further Reading