Product Description

“Shakespeare For Dummies is exquisite.”
—from the Foreword by Dame Judi Dench, star of “Mrs. Brown” and "Shakespeare in Love"

“What the film Shakespeare in Love has done to make Shakespeare the man accessible to a general audience, this book will do to make Shakespeare the writer enjoyable.”
—Charlotte J.Headrick, PhD, Professor and Director, Theater Arts, Oregon State University

Does the thought of sitting through A Midsummer Night’s Dream give you nightmares? Did Romeo and Juliet seem like a foreign film—without the subtitles? As John Doyle and Ray Lischner prove in this uniquely accessible guide, Shakespeare is not only the greatest writer who ever lived, he’s also a great entertainer—once you get a handle on his wild plots and witty wordplay. Under their guidance, you’ll:

• Go inside an Elizabethan theater—and find out how they managed with almost no seats, no roof and no women onstage
• Get a handle on Shakespeare’s language—including all those racy puns and jokes
• Maximize your enjoyment of his plays and poetry
• Identify contemporary idioms and phrases that come from Shakespeare’s plays
• Find Shakespeare festivals and performances in your area
• Catch ten of the best show ever made of the Bard’s plays and meet ten of the greatest Shakespearean actors of all time

In simple, straightforward language, this friendly guide eases you into the wild, wonderful world of Shakespeare. With the help of snappy summaries and scorecards that help you keep track of who’s who, who’s in love with whom, and who’s killed whom in every play, it helps you:

• Understand Shakespeare the person, his life and times and what makes him so special
• Make sense of Shakespearean language and why it sounds the way it does
• Get the inside track on the kinds of stories, characters and settings found in Shakespeare’s plays
• Appreciate Shakespeare’s sonnets and other non–dramatic poetry

A royal feast for the head and heart, Shakespeare’s works have been thrilling audiences for four centuries, as they will four hundred years from now. Now let Shakespeare For Dummies help you to enjoy one the world’s great literary treasures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74317 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From the Author
You CAN understand Shakespeare
Who says Shakespeare has to be boring? Bill was actually a fun and funny guy who just happened to be the greatest playwright the world has ever known.

Shakespeare for Dummies is your friendly, easy-to-read guide to the life and works of the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon: Read a short summary of each play and meet the key characters--use the summaries to refresh your memory before you watch or read a play. Keep track of who's winning, who's losing, and who married whom with the unique Shakespeare Scorecards. You can't tell who's winning without a scorecard!

From the Back Cover
"Shakespeare For Dummies is exquisite." — From the Foreword by Dame Judi Dench of Mrs. Brown and Shakespeare in Love "John Doyle asks actors never to hide in fear from Shakespeare's words, but to use them to bring the story to life." — Natascha McElhone, costar of the films The Truman Show and Mrs. Dalloway "What great fun! What the film Shakespeare in Love has done to make Shakespeare the man accessible to a general audience, this book will do to make Shakespeare the writer enjoyable." — Charlotte J. Headrick, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Theatre Arts, Oregon State University

Includes a Scorecard for Every Play!

Shakespeare…Difficult? Zounds! 'Tis all much ado about nothing! Does the thought of sitting through A Midsummer Night's Dream give you nightmares? Did Romeo and Juliet seem like a foreign film — without the subtitles? Relax. As John Doyle and Ray Lischner prove in this uniquely accessible guide, Shakespeare is not only the greatest writer who ever lived, but he's also a great entertainer — once you get a handle on his wild plots and witty wordplay. With Shakespeare For Dummies^®, you get snappy summaries and scorecards for every play to help you keep track of who's who, who's in love with whom, and who's killed whom — plus fun tips on understanding Elizabethan English, including all those racy puns and jokes. "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears"

• Discover how Shakespeare became the Steven Spielberg of Elizabethan England — and why some people still claim that his plays were ghostwritten
• Go inside an Elizabethan theater — and find out how they managed with almost no seats, no roof, and no women onstage
• Improve your understanding of the language with tips on sentence construction, verbs, and those troublesome thees, thous, and thines
• Find contemporary idioms and phrases that come from Shakespeare's plays
• Get the lowdown on where to find Shakespeare festivals and performances — and discover how to maximize your enjoyment of a play
• Find out the possible identity of the mysterious "Dark Lady" in Shakespeare's sonnets
• Catch ten of the best shows ever made of the Bard's plays — and meet the ten greatest Shakespearean actors of all time

About the Author
About the Authors John Doyle, former artistic director of four renowned theater companies in Britain, has directed more than 160 professional productions, including Shakespeare′s A Midsummer Night′s Dream, Macbeth, and Much Ado About Nothing. Ray Lischner helped form TACIT (Theater Arts at the California Institute of Technology) and participated in every production. He has performed in several Shakespeare plays, including Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Titus Andronicus.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book!
I studied Shakespeare at school and have seen a few plays but I always felt I was missing something due to not fully understanding what I was watching/reading. Then I read this book! It's great, I would recommend it to anyone having trouble with Shakespeare, young or old.