William Shakespeare

Henry V, the climax of Shakespeare's sequence of English history plays, is an inspiring, often comic celebration of a young warrior-king. But it is also a study of the costly exhilarations of war, and of the penalties as well as the glories of human greatness. Introducing this brilliantly innovative edition, Gary Taylor shows how Shakespeare shaped his historical material, examines...

The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in dazzling new modern covers to inspire Shakespearians of all ages. The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series is edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel. The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's...

One of the greatest plays of all time, the compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mother's infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for oblivion with his duty as avenger. The ghost, Hamlet's...

In its towering central characters, vast geographical and historical sweep, and its variety of style and mood, Anthony and Cleopatra is perhaps the most ambitious of Shakespeare's designs. Yet the degree and nature of its success remain surprisingly contentious, and performances of the play have seldom matched the extravagant expectations of its admirers. Michael Neill's wide-ranging introduction evaluates the play...

A Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakespeare's plays. It brings together aristocrats, workers, and fairies in a wood outside Athens, and from there the enchantment begins. Simple and engaging on the surface, it is nonetheless a highly original and sophisticated work, remarkable for both its literary and theatrical mastery. It is one of the very few...

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the incredible comedy about unrequited love, both hilarious and heartbreaking, now presented by the Folger Shakespeare Library with valuable new tools for educators and dynamic new covers. Named for the twelfth night after Christmas, the end of the Christmas season, Twelfth Night plays with love and power. The Countess Olivia, a woman with her own household,...

The authoritative edition of Titus Andronicus from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Titus Andronicus is the earliest tragedy and the earliest Roman play attributed to Shakespeare. Titus, a model Roman, has led twenty-one of his twenty-five sons to death in Rome’s wars; he stabs another son to death for...

The authoritative edition of The Winter’s Tale from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. The Winter’s Tale, one of Shakespeare’s very late plays, is filled with improbabilities. Before the conclusion, one character comments that what we are about to see, “Were it but told you, should be hooted at /...

The authoritative edition of Hamlet from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Hamlet is Shakespeare's most popular, and most puzzling, play. It follows the form of a "revenge tragedy," in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father's murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of...

‘How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in't!’ Performed variously as escapist fantasy, celebratory fiction, and political allegory, The Tempest is one of the plays in which Shakespeare's genius as a poetic dramatist found its fullest expression. Significantly, it was placed first when published in the First Folio of 1623, and is now generally seen...

The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in award-winning modern covers to inspire Shakespearians of all ages. The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now in a dazzling new series design. Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition. Gold Medal Winner of the 3x3 Illustration Annual No. 14. A Penguin Classic. This edition of The...

The authoritative edition of Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud....

William Shakespeare's classic play Othello, featuring valuable tools for educators and readers, from the esteemed Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works. In Othello, Shakespeare creates powerful drama from a marriage between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona that begins with elopement and mutual devotion and ends with jealous rage and...

An improved, larger-format edition of the Cambridge School Shakespeare plays, extensively rewritten, expanded, and produced in an attractive new design. An active approach to classroom Shakespeare enables students to inhabit Shakespeare's imaginative world in accessible and creative ways. Students are encouraged to share Shakespeare's love of language, interest in character, and sense of theatre. Substantially revised and extended in full...

The authoritative edition of Measure for Measure from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Measure for Measure is among the most passionately discussed of Shakespeare’s plays. In it, a duke temporarily removes himself from governing his city-state, deputizing a member of his administration, Angelo, to enforce the laws more rigorously....

The authoritative edition of Macbeth from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. In 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne, becoming James I of England. London was alive with an interest in all things Scottish, and Shakespeare turned to Scottish history for material. He found a spectacle of...

The authoritative edition of King Lear from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Shakespeare's King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the suffering of others. Lear himself rages...

This legendary Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Updated for the 21st century by editors Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmuller of UCLA, each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used....

This updated edition has added a substantial new section to the Introduction. Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of this masterpiece of political power play and manipulation—along with more than a hundred pages of exclusive features, including: An original Introduction to Julius Caesar Incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis with vital facts about the...

The authoritative edition of William Shakespeare’s historic play Henry V from the Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for both students and general readers. Henry V is Shakespeare’s most famous “war play”; it includes the storied English victory over the French at Agincourt. Some of it glorifies war, especially the choruses and Henry’s speeches urging his...

What is honour? A word. What is in that word 'honour'? What is that 'honour'? Air. A history play that combines a coming-of-age narrative with a tale of power, rebellion, friendship, and betrayal, Henry IV Part I has been a perennial favourite from Shakespeare's time to the present. What has ensured its popularity is above all the towering figure of...

The authoritative edition of Henry IV, Part 1 from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Family relationships are at the centre of Henry IV, Part 1. King Henry IV and Prince Hal form one major father-son pair, with Henry in despair because Hal lives a dissolute life. The father-son pair...

William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the incredible story about love, rebellion, and generosity, now presented by the Folger Shakespeare Library with valuable new tools for educators and dynamic new covers. Readers and audiences have long greeted As You Like It with delight. Its characters are brilliant conversationalists, including the princesses Rosalind and Celia and their Fool, Touchstone. Soon after...

The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in dazzling new modern covers, aims to inspire Shakespearians of all ages. The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel, features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's time, an introduction to the...

The authoritative edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love. Theseus and Hippolyta, about to marry, are figures from mythology. In the woods outside Theseus's Athens, two young men and two young women sort...

An improved, larger-format edition of the Cambridge School Shakespeare plays, extensively rewritten, expanded and produced in an attractive new design. An active approach to classroom Shakespeare enables students to inhabit Shakespeare's imaginative world in accessible and creative ways. Students are encouraged to share Shakespeare's love of language, interest in character and sense of theatre. Substantially revised and extended in full...

This Norton Critical Edition includes: The First Folio (1623) text of Twelfth Night, with annotations and marginal glosses. Natasha Korda's expert introduction and list of textual edits made to the Folio text for this edition. "Intertexts," a rich selection of ancient and Renaissance works in conversation with Twelfth Night's themes of disguised identity, gender fluidity, and fictive letter-writing. Nine illustrations,...

In a respectful, but not reverent, adaptation, Kenneth Cavander reimagines Timon of Athens for the twenty-first century. Never performed in Shakespeare’s lifetime, Timon of Athens presents an intriguing puzzle for contemporary audiences. The disjointed plot and many gaps in the story have led scholars to believe it was a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton, a younger writer known for...

A modern translation that will appeal to new audiences. In her translation of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dipika Guha updates the language of Shakespeare’s comedy through the lens of our current moment. Guha maintains the humour at the heart of the play while making it accessible for both performers and audiences. This translation was written as part of the...

An accessible new translation of one of Shakespeare’s most interesting and challenging plays. One of Shakespeare’s most difficult plays, Measure for Measure has long challenged performers and audiences alike. In reworking the play in her translation, Aditi Brennan Kapil honours the structure, rhythms, and themes of Shakespeare’s original. Kapil’s updated language makes this cautionary fable about frailty, power, and the...

A new translation of Shakespeare’s great tragedy that renews it for today’s audiences. Marcus Gardley’s translation of King Lear renews the language of one of Shakespeare’s most frequently staged tragedies for a modern audience. Gardley’s update allows audiences to hear the play anew while still finding themselves in the tragic midst of Shakespeare’s play. This translation of King Lear was...

One of Shakespeare’s late plays rewritten in contemporary language. In her modern translation of Cymbeline, Andrea Thome takes up one of Shakespeare’s most complex plays. Thome’s update brings the play’s language into the present, highlighting new resonances and providing a more accessible version of Shakespeare’s play for today’s audiences. One of Shakespeare’s final plays, Cymbeline tells the story of the...

This beautiful, giftable collection celebrates and explores both the beauty and the anguish of love through classic poems, stories, and letters from some of literature’s most beloved writers. Because it defines human existence, love is one of art’s favourite subjects. Timeless Love: Poems, Stories, and Letters celebrates the mysterious nature of love and passion by bringing together classic works written...

By carefully selecting extracts from sources, scholars and scriptwriters, Gordon McMullan tells a series of stories about Romeo and Juliet, globally and from their legend's origins to the present day. This edition includes: Introductory materials and explanatory annotations by Gordon McMullan as well as numerous images; Sources and early rewritings by Luigi Da Porto, Matteo Bandello, Pierre Boaistuau, Kareen Klein,...

This Norton Critical Edition looks at the full range of opinion and interpretation of this major play from its origins to the present day, from its "genius" (William Hazlitt) to its being a "hateful work, although Shakespearean throughout" (Samuel Taylor Coleridge), and beyond. The Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1623 First Folio text, the only authoritative edition of...

This legendary Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Updated for the 21st century by editors Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmuller of UCLA, each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used....

The everyman Signet Shakespeare series continues with the first volume of Comedies containing The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet (sic), and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

This Norton Critical Edition of Antony and Cleopatra is based on the First Folio (1623), the only authoritative text of the play. The edition includes a preface, detailed explanatory annotations, two maps, and visuals ranging from a silver tetradrachm (34 B.C.E.) to an Egyptian Queen Barbie. Sources, Analogues, and Contexts, a rich selection of historical and literary writing, gives readers...

Experience the timeless beauty of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies with this Deluxe Hardbound Edition. Immerse yourself in the world of tragic heroes and captivating narratives, presented in a stunning format that combines elegance and durability. Perfect for Shakespeare enthusiasts and collectors alike. Deluxe hardbound edition featuring Shakespeare's greatest tragedies Immerse yourself in the timeless narratives of tragic heroes Exquisite design and...

Experience the timeless humour and wit of William Shakespeare with Greatest Comedies of Shakespeare. This delightful collection brings together his most beloved comedic plays, filled with mistaken identities, witty wordplay, and uproarious situations that will have you laughing out loud. Comedy, confusion, and charm in every act. A curated selection of Shakespeare's funniest comedies: Hilarious plotlines and memorable characters Lively...

Sonnets by William Shakespeare are among the most lyrical and moving pieces of poetry in any language. They abound with examples of his genius for wordplay, rhythm, and metaphor, dealing with the eternal themes of love, memory, beauty, and the ravages of time. First published in 1609, after Shakespeare had written many of his most famous works, the Sonnets have...

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 ambiguities and pronunciation, each edition has been developed to open the play’s possibilities and meanings to actors and students. Designed to be used and to be useful, each edition...

The Arden Shakespeare is the established scholarly edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Now in its third series, Arden offers the best in contemporary scholarship. Each volume guides you to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s plays. This edition of King John provides: A clear and authoritative text, edited to the highest standards of scholarship. Detailed notes and commentary on the...

Five of Shakespeare's most essential and widely read plays—uniting tragedy, comedy, and history—collected in one beautifully designed boxed set. Perfect for students, educators, and readers seeking an accessible gateway to the world's greatest playwright. Shakespeare: Greatest Works brings together five of William Shakespeare's most studied, performed, and beloved plays: Hamlet — The definitive tragedy of conscience, revenge, and human frailty,...

Shakespeare’s famous play finds new life with a translation into contemporary American English. “For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” In this new version of Romeo and Juliet, written in accessible modern English, Hansol Jung breathes new life into Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. By closely examining the familiar language and focusing on...

Shakespeare’s early comedy reimagined for modern audiences. Love’s Labour’s Lost is a wacky comedy of disguise and mischief, following the King of Navarre and his companions as they attempt to swear off the company of women. Focusing on bringing new life into the musicality of Shakespeare’s language, Josh Wilder’s translation of Love’s Labour’s Lost brings out the play’s romp and...

This translation of Shakespeare’s overlooked play will captivate contemporary readers. Virginia Grise takes on one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays in her translation of All’s Well That Ends Well. It is a play that has challenged actors, directors, and audiences for four hundred years, and in this edition, Grise updates Shakespeare’s language for modern ears. This translation was written as part...

A continuation of the popular series of Signature Select Classics chapbooks, this volume collects the complete sonnets of Shakespeare into one volume. This stunning chapbook includes all 154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare, which were first published in 1609. Exploring timeless themes such as love, jealousy, beauty, the passage of time, and mortality, this keepsake edition of poems also features...

The bloodiest and brashest of Shakespeare’s plays, this revenge tragedy begins with war and ends in mutilation and cannibalism. Acts of war and sexual violence across borders and within families highlight the importance of empire, Blackness and gender, alongside the familial and literal blood which characterise early modern and contemporary performance. The Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series Titus Andronicus provides: A...

Tyranny, imperialism and political authority define Shakespeare’s enduring dramatic depiction of ruling power and regime change in ancient Rome. A touchpoint for characterising tyrannical leaders throughout the world, Julius Caesar has told a cautionary tale of the uneasy relationship between political leaders and citizens from the time it was first performed up to the 21st century. The Arden Shakespeare Fourth...

Lillian Groag presents a new version of Troilus and Cressida that will resonate with contemporary audiences. One of the most obscure plays in Shakespeare’s canon, Troilus and Cressida may also be the Bard’s darkest comedy. Exploring some of the events of Homer’s Iliad, the play juxtaposes the carnage of the Trojan War with a love story between its two titular...

Shakespeare’s tragic story of revenge is reimagined for the twenty-first century. One of Shakespeare’s goriest plays, Titus Andronicus traces the fall of the Andronicus family in ancient Rome. Clinging to the ways of the past, Titus desperately seeks to remain loyal to the throne as his world crumbles around him. Amy Freed’s translation of Titus Andronicus is careful and meticulous,...

Tracy Young offers a new version of Shakespeare’s difficult tale of jealousy and redemption. The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s most challenging explorations of redemption and rebirth. Driven by extreme jealousy, Leontes, the King of Sicily, accuses his wife Hermione of infidelity and orders his newborn daughter to be abandoned. Sixteen years later, Leontes must reckon with the consequences...

Tim Slover brings fresh clarity to his contemporary version of Shakespeare’s final play. Playwright, poet, and novelist Tim Slover presents William Shakespeare’s and John Fletcher’s collaboration, The Two Noble Kinsmen, in a modern translation that retains all the wit, romance, and poetry of the original. For his last play, the Bard pulled out all the stops, creating a tragicomedy of...

Age range 12+ The Tempest: The 30-Minute Shakespeare offers eight scenes from this rich comedy. Beginning with the magical storm and shipwreck, this adaptation includes the uproarious discovery of the monster Caliban and his plot to kill Prospero. Included are the heartfelt marriage vows between Ferdinand and Miranda, the disguised antics of fairy Ariel, and Prospero's poetic abjuration of his...

Considered by most scholars to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote, The Tempest is a stormy tale of betrayal and forgiveness. After being banished by his brother Antonio, Prospero harnesses the magic of an otherworldly island full of monsters and spirits to seek revenge. In reworking this play for a twenty-first-century audience, Kenneth Cavander focuses on the humor and...

An updated version of The Merchant of Venice that speaks to our contemporary reckoning with racism and injustice. Elise Thoron’s translation of Shakespeare’s searing The Merchant of Venice cuts straight to the heart of today’s fraught issues of social justice and systemic racism. Thoron’s clear, compelling contemporary verse translation retains the power of the original iambic pentameter while allowing readers...

Shakespeare’s archetypal slapstick comedy, now with updated jokes and wordplay. One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, The Comedy of Errors is a farcical tale of separated twins and mistaken identities. This slapstick play is a staple of the genre, including madcap bawdiness, love at first sight, reunions, and happily-ever-afters. Christina Anderson’s translation dives deep into the joy of the original text,...

Amy Freed rewrites The Taming of the Shrew, one of the more problematic plays in the Shakespeare canon. While beloved for its sharp dialogue and witty banter, The Taming of the Shrew offers a problematic storyline that many have deemed misogynistic. The play contains insensitive gags and uneasy politics, making it difficult for modern audiences to connect with the text....

Age range 12+ Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. The 30-Minute Shakespeare is a new series of abridgements that tell the 'story' of each...

Playwright Migdalia Cruz breathes new life into Richard III. Nuyorican playwright Migdalia Cruz unpacks and repositions Shakespeare’s Richard III for a twenty-first-century audience. She presents a contemporary English verse translation, faithfully keeping the poetry, the puns, and the politics of the play intact, with a rigorous and in-depth examination of Richard III—the man, the king, the outsider—who is still the...

Shakespeare’s history play reimagined by Naomi Iizuka. Following the events of the final two years of his life, Richard II interrogates royal power and the forces that threaten it. After banishing his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Richard begins to lose grip of his throne and strives to find meaning in the churn and chaos of the events unfolding around him. In...

A contemporary translation that emphasizes the racial malice at the heart of Shakespeare’s play. In her update of Shakespeare’s Othello, Mfoniso Udofia engages with the racial malice at the heart of the play. Udofia’s take on this complicated story emphasizes the rhythm and lyrical patterns of Othello’s speech. Opening up the text to modern ears, Udofia presents us with a...

Ranjit Bolt updates Much Ado About Nothing with a merry new translation. In Much Ado About Nothing, a series of miscommunications and misunderstandings spiral out of control, leaving two sets of lovers to untangle their words and their hearts. Ranjit Bolt, an accomplished translator, takes on Shakespeare’s well-loved comedy to update much of the obscure language while maintaining the humor,...

In Migdalia Cruz’s Macbeth, the Witches run the world. The Macbeths live out a dark cautionary tale of love, greed, and power, falling from glory into calamity as the Witches spin their fate. Translating Shakespeare’s language for a modern audience, Nuyorican playwright Migdalia Cruz rewrites Macbeth with all the passion of the Bronx. This translation of Macbeth was presented in...

"Sources" helps readers navigate King Lear's rich history and includes the nine essential primary sources from which Shakespeare borrowed significantly in creating his play, along with two additional likely sources. "Criticism" provides thirteen major critical interpretations and three provocative adaptations and responses to King Lear. Critical interpretation is provided by Samuel Johnson, Charles Lamb, Peter Brook, Michael Warren, Lynda E....

A fresh, contemporary translation of one of Shakespeare’s most dramatic and popular plays. Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s famous Roman tragedy, chronicles the chaos leading up to the fateful murder of Caesar and the ensuing political fallout upon his death. Shishir Kurup’s translation updates Shakespeare’s language to allow more of the playwright’s ideas to come through; it opens the wonders and blazing...

New versions of Shakespeare’s history plays from director and translator Douglas Langworthy. In his three Henry VI plays, Shakespeare tackles the infamous Wars of the Roses and the fall of the House of Lancaster. In this translation of Henry VI, Part 1, Douglas Langworthy explores the initial unrest as a young Henry VI becomes king. Langworthy’s translation takes a deep...

Caridad Svich offers a new take on the history play, which tells the story of Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. Shakespeare’s Henry VIII is a story of a brazen race to power and the desire for an heir. Advised by Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII is caught between church and state as he meets Anne Boleyn and seeks to annul...

The two-part tale of King Henry IV, rewritten with new language for the twenty-first century. Shakespeare’s two Henry IV plays follow the exploits of King Henry IV after usurping the crown from his cousin Richard II. Featuring some of Shakespeare’s most recognisable characters such as Prince Hal and the roguish Sir John Falstaff, Henry IV, Part 1 delves into complicated...

To thine own text be true—Lisa Peterson’s translation of Hamlet into contemporary American English makes the play accessible to new audiences while keeping the soul of Shakespeare’s writing intact. Lovers of Shakespeare’s language take heart: Lisa Peterson’s translation of Hamlet into contemporary American English was guided by the principle of “First, do no harm.” Leaving the most famous parts of...

Edward III comes to life in a new version by playwright Octavio Solis. Written after England’s victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, Edward III follows the exploits of King Edward III and his son Edward, the Black Prince of Wales. England dominates on the battlefield as the play explores questions of kinghood and chivalry through the actions of King...

Celebrate the timeless beauty of Shakespeare's words and the natural world in this exquisitely illustrated anthology. Pairing some of the Bard's most evocative verse with the botanical watercolours of artist Harrison Dix, Darling Buds is the perfect literary gift. Inside this beautiful book, you'll find each quotation illustrated, along with notes on every plant's significance, symbolism, and even its medicinal...

Age range 12+ As You Like It: The 30-Minute Shakespeare presents seven captivating scenes from this merry play. Rosalind, disguised as a man (Ganymede), teaches the art of romantic wooing to Orlando. The cutting includes Jaques' timeless 'Seven Ages of Man' speech, Touchstone the Fool's courtship of Audrey, and the hilarious love triangle between Silvius, Phebe, and Rosalind. The entire...

Actor and director David Ivers presents As You Like It, as you’d like to hear it today. Presenting a new translation of Shakespeare into contemporary English, Ivers reimagines Shakespeare’s comedy from an actor’s point of view. Analysing the play line by line to uncover the meaning of every joke, pun, and witty aside, Ivers repurposes Shakespeare’s language while maintaining an...

Age range 12+ Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. The 30-Minute Shakespeare is a new series of abridgements that tell the 'story' of each...

Shakespeare’s most spirited play, adapted for new audiences by Jeffrey Whitty. Tony Award–winning and Oscar-nominated storyteller Jeffrey Whitty offers his adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mindfully adapted into modern language. Matching the Bard line for line, rhyme for rhyme, Whitty illuminates Shakespeare’s meaning for modern audiences while maintaining the play’s storytelling architecture, emotional texture, and freewheeling humour. Designed to...

When an old adversary threatens Rome, the city calls once more on her hero and defender: Coriolanus. But famine threatens the city, the citizens’ hunger swells to an appetite for change, and on returning from the field, Coriolanus must confront the march of realpolitik and the voice of an angry people. This is one of Shakespeare’s last tragedies, best known...

Romeo and Juliet (1597) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Inspired by an Italian tale adapted for an English audience in 1562 by Arthur Brooke and in 1567 by William Painter, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet sometime between 1591 and 1595. Alongside Hamlet, it is one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays and has served as source material for countless film...

Antony and Cleopatra (1607) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Inspired by Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives—a series of biographies on influential figures of the ancient world—Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra sometime between 1599 and 1601. Often considered a sequel of sorts to his earlier play Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra has served as source material for countless film...