A Pocket Guide to Shakespeare's Plays

by Kenneth McLeish and Stephen F. Unwin

• ISBN13: 9780571191833
• ISBN10: 0571191835
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-04-30
• Publisher: Faber & Faber

Summary

Going to see 'Shakespeare' and want a quick run-down on the plot? Studying Shakespeare and want to know who's who? Teaching the 'Henrys' and need a handy guide to histories? A Pocket Guide to Shakespeare's Plays gives all this and more: --an introduction to Shakespeare and his times --a note on the sources --cast lists --a synopsis for each play --main character descriptions --an essay on 38 plays. An essential, concise, and readable guide to all thirty-eight of Shakespeare's plays. A Pocket Guide to Shakespeare's Plays is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the greatest of all English-language playwrights. Equally useful for actors, directors, and students-as well as for anyone planning to see a Shakespearean play-this book offers a great deal of information about Shakespeare in an accessible, succinct format. It looks at Shakespeare and his works from virtually every possible angle, including a section on Shakespeare and his time; a note on his sources; a synopsis of each play; descriptions of the main characters, which take note of the differences between the characters on the page and how they have been portrayed on the stage; and a brief, insightful essay on each work, which helps put the play in the context of Shakespeare's time as well as our own.

Author Biography

Stephen Unwin is Artistic Director of English Touring Theatre.