Product Description

Whether you want a quick overview of Romeo and Juliet to set the scene before a night at the theatre or an in depth reference guide for that challenging essay, this is the handbook for you! This one-stop guide to the life and work of the Bard will enable you to approach his plays and poems with new confidence. Clear, non-academic, prose throughout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #156166 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Review
"attractive and user-friendly". Sunday Telegraph (Review) Good Times 06/04 "a stunning work of reference". "I REALLY enjoyed the book. It's an inventive, entertaining and exciting guide for ANYONE studying Shakespeare." Deborah Warner, acclaimed theatre and opera director "This is an excellent guide to a country called Shakespeare that can't fail to add to the knowledge and enjoyment to be derived from visiting it." Richard Eyre, Director of the National Theatre, London, 1988-1997 "This book, however, really is something different. Beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched! The clear layout and enchanting photography make this a valuable resource for any English teacher." Teachers Magazine. "this treasure chest which can only be described as the definitive guide book to the Bard, his work, his life and all that he represented." Amateur Stage

Nick Hytner, the new Director of the National Theatre
"A brilliant new way of looking at Shakespeare, and recaptured for me the excitement"

Fiona Shaw, stage and screen actress who presented the case for Shakespeare in the BBC's
"Lively, useful, diverse, entertaining. It mainlines to the essential Shakespeare...is friendly, imaginative, funny, serious, modern. A wonderful achievement."

Customer Reviews

As glossy and colourful as Disneyworld
This is a very American sort of Shakespeare reference work, i.e. it isn't about conveying real knowledge, just about creating a general feel-good, affirmatory sort of effect. It states all kinds of half-proved hypotheses as though they were established facts, and uses all sorts of dubious pictures without distinguishing the ones that have any authority as evidence from the ones that just happened to be cheap to reproduce. It's fun to flick through and will suit American high-school teachers fairly well, but if you actually want to know about the subject you want a proper grown-up reference book like the Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (which is just as easy to read, and often has better pictures) or the Blackwell Companion to Shakespeare.

Fun and informative
I found this book extremely informative (there's a huge amount of information in here) and at the same time great fun. While I understand that the the glossy presentation (very similar to DK's Eyewitness Travel series) might not be to everyone's taste, I actually found it very attractive, and didn't find that it detracted from the well written and well researched content. It has also been recommended by Kenneth Branagh, and two former directors of the National Theatre, no less.

Essential Shakespeare Handbook
This is a most informative and impressive guide. An invaluable handbook for anyone studying or planning a visit to any of Shakespeare's plays. In fact, I was so impressed I have recommended it to several friends and colleagues and plan to give it as a gift wherever I can.