Shakespeare: Texts and Contexts

Book excerpt: This volume focuses on both the texts of Shakespeare's plays, and the many contexts in which they have been produced, from their first performances to contemporary reproductions. This book introduces nine of Shakespeare's major plays and focuses on the critical practices of close reading, historical contextualisation, and a lively question-and-answer teaching style. There is also detailed attention to Shakespeare on stage, on film, and in the new communications technologies and to new theoretical approaches to Shakespeare's plays.