Stanley Wells

"A series of essays on great Shakespeare actors from his time to ours, starting by asking whether Shakespeare himself was the first and continuing with essays on the men and women, both English and American, who have given great stage performances in his plays from Elizabethan times to our own. Individual chapters tell the story of their subjects' careers, but together these overlapping tales combine to offer an actor-centered history of Shakespearian...

Shakespeare loved to use the device of mistaken identity, and nowhere does he use this convention more skilfully than in Twelfth Night. Viola, surviving a shipwreck, walks ashore at Illyria, and immediately embarks on a gambit to allow her to make her way in a world of men. Dressed as a man, Viola, now Cesario, insinuates herself into the service of the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. Orsino longs for the love of a neighbouring countess, Olivia , who as...

A comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. The play consists of multiple subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot revolves around a conflict between four Athenian lovers, one about a group of six amateur actors who have to act out their interpretation of the play 'Pyramus and Thisbe' at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. These subplots take place in a forest, inhabited by fairies who control the characters...

This volume contains the tetralogy of plays-Richard II, Henry IV-Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V-written by Shakespeare c. 1595-1599. In this collection each play is accompanied by notes and an introduction, making this edition of particular value to students and theatre-goers.

"For most people the phrase 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' refers to the 154 poems published in 1609 under the title Shakespeare's Sonnets: Never before Imprinted. These have since appeared in numerous editions in print and on-line, ranging from plain-text reproductions through illustrated gift-books to collections with varying amounts of editorial material. Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609) have been translated into most of the world's languages, anthologised,...