Royal Shakespeare Company

Believed to have been written in 1591, William Shakespeare's "Richard III" is one of the bards first plays, the first installment in a tetralogy of plays which includes "Henry IV, Part I," "Henry IV, Part II," and "Henry V." One of the longest of Shakespeare's plays and consequently rarely performed unabridged, "Richard III" is the story of the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. The play begins with...

Memorable historical drama concerns rebellion against King Henry led by Harry Percy ("Hotspur") and other nobles, complicated by the king's difficulties with his wayward son, Prince Hal. Superb blend of courtly intrigue, battlefield action, and low comedy featuring Sir John Falstaff, all expressed in fine blank verse and stirring prose.

"This generously annotated updated edition of Coriolanus provides a thorough reconsideration of Shakespeare's remarkable, and probably his last, tragedy. A substantial introduction situates the play within its contemporary social and political contexts - dearth, riots, the struggle over authority between James I and his first parliament, the travails of Essex and Ralegh - and pays particular attention to Shakespeare's shaping of his primary source...

Love's Labour's Lost, the first work to bear Shakespeare's name on its title page, differs greatly from his other early plays both for its highly unorthodox ending and its extraordinary use of language. This new edition presents a highly readable, modernised text of the play, freshly edited from the first quarto published in 1598.

"Since the rediscovery of Elizabethan stage conditions early this century, admiration for Measure for Measure has steadily risen. It is now a favourite with the critics and has attracted widely different styles of performance. At one extreme, the play is seen as a religious allegory; at the other, it has been interpreted as a comedy protesting against power and privilege. Brian Gibbons focuses on the unique tragi-comic experience of watching the play,...

"The Comedy of Errors has been popular on the stage during the last three centuries and has proved itself admirably suited to adaptation as pure farce and musical spectacle. For this updated edition, Ros King has provided a completely new Introduction to the existing text and commentary, in which she argues that the play cannot be regarded merely as a farcical romp based on a classical model, but belongs to the critically misunderstood genre of tragi-comedy....

"Sparkling with the witty dialogue between Beatrice and Benedicts, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's most enjoyable and theatrically successful comedies. This edition offers a newly edited text and an exceptionally helpful and critically aware introduction. Paying particular attention to analysis of the play's minor characters, Sheldon P Zitner discusses Shakespeare's transformation of his source material. He rethinks the attitudes to...

Featuring the images of some of the world's most famous stage and film actors, these additions to the all-new Oxford School Shakespeare introduce--and enthrall--young people to one of the greatest writers of all time. This season brings revised editions of five of the Bard's most famous plays--As You Like It, Othello, Hamlet, Love's Labour Lost and The Taming of the Shrew. Designed specifically for students unfamiliar with Shakespeare's rich literary...

Provides information about William Shakespeare's family life and work as a playwright and actor, summaries of his works, and details and challenges of staging Shakespearean productions. Includes a CD with performances from selected Shakespearean plays and sonnets by Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company.

The capriciousness of lovers is the theme of this romantic and entertaining comedy, given a frolicsome rendition by the Royal Shakespeare Company.