Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

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Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

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Summary

This 1998 edition of Much Ado About Nothing focuses wholly on the play in performance. Shifting trends in the production of this popular drama are analysed in relation to the culture of each period since Shakespeare's time, with particular attention to gender issues. An essential resource for students, teachers, actors and directors, this is an illuminating book for all theatregoers.

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Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

This 1998 edition of Much Ado About Nothing focuses wholly on the play in performance. John Cox investigates major issues and trends in the production of this popular work, analysing successive reinterpretations of the play in relation to their cultural and ideological contexts. Gender issues are central to the study, which highlights in striking ways the changing constructions of womanhood in performances from Shakespeare's time to the present. A commentary alongside the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of the text recreates in lively detail interpretations of each passage in a variety of British, American, Canadian and other productions, including film and television versions. A full introduction also examines the problematic relation of dark and comic elements in a wide range of performances. An essential resource for students, teachers, actors and directors, this is an illuminating book for all theatregoers.
'Cambridge has come up with an excellent new series, Shakespeare in Production, which is going to be invaluable to anybody studying, acting, or producing his plays' Plays and Players Applause Magazine
'Shakespeare in Production … is … ideally suited to people like me: people as interested in the stage history of a Shakespearean play as in its text. What distinguishes these editions, and makes them of particular interest to drama and theatre departments, is their unique concentration on theatrical production.' Studies in Theatre Production
'I cannot recommend too highly the whole series (a bargain at £16.99 for each play) to all theatre lovers, theatregoers, theatre practitioners, and anybody who enjoys Shakespeare.' Robert Tanitch, What's on in London
' ... interesting things to say on structure ...' Plays International
Advisory Board:

David Bevington is the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. A renowned text scholar, he has edited several Shakespeare editions including the Bantam Shakespeare in individual paperback volumes, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, (Longman, 2003), and Troilus and Cressida (Arden, 1998). He teaches courses in Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, and Medieval Drama.

Barbara Gaines is the founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. She has directed over 25 productions at Chicago Shakespeare, and she serves on the artistic directorate of
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London as well as on Northwestern University's Board of Trustees.

Peter Holland is the McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies at the University of Notre Dame. One of the central figures in performance-oriented Shakespeare criticism, he has also edited many
Shakespeare plays, including A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Oxford Shakespeare series. He is also general editor of Shakespeare Survey and co-general editor (with Stanley Wells) of Oxford Shakespeare Topics.

Contributors:

Professor Douglas Lanier - Douglas Lanier is an Associate Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. His publications include Shakescorp Noir in Shakespeare Quarterly 53.2 (Summer 2002) and Nostalgia and Theatricality in Shakespeare the Movie II (eds. Richard Burt and Lynda Boose, Routledge, 2003), and the book, Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture (Oxford University Press, 2002).

Professor Jill Levenson - Jill L. Levenson is a Professor of English at Trinity College at the University of Toronto. She has written and edited numerous essays and books including Romeo and Juliet for the Manchester University Press's series Shakespeare in Performance (1987), Shakespeare and the Twentieth Century (with Jonathan Bate and Dieter Mehl), and the Oxford edition of Romeo and Juliet (2000). Currently she is writing a book on Shakespeare and modern drama for Shakespeare Topics, a series published by Oxford University Press.

Professor Lois Potter - Lois Potter is Ned B. Allen Professor of English at the University of Delaware. She has also taught in England, France, and Japan, attending and reviewing as many plays as possible. Her publications include the Arden edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen and Othello for the Manchester University Press's series Shakespeare in Performance.

Ms. Janet Suzman - Janet Suzman was trained at LAMDA and is an honorary associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her work there has included The Wars of the Roses, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost, and The Merchant of Venice. She has been awarded numerous honorary degrees and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1971 for her performance in Nicholas and Alexandra. Her acclaimed 1990 direction of Othello in Johannesburg, South Africa is considered to be one of the most powerful productions of the play.

Mr. Andrew Wade - Andrew Wade was Head of Voice for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990 - 2003 and Voice Assistant Director from 1987-1990. During this time he worked on 170 productions and with more than 80 directors. Along with Cicely Berry, Andrew recorded Working Shakespeare, the DVD series on Voice and Shakespeare, and he was the verse consultant for the movie Shakespeare In Love. In 2000, he won a Bronze Award from the New York International Radio Festival for the series Lifespan, which he co-directed and devised. He works widely teaching, lecturing and coaching throughout the world.

Marie Macaisa is a lifelong fan of Shakespeare who has seen at least one theatrical production of nearly all his plays (she's waiting for Henry VIII). Her first career, lasting 20 years, was in high tech; she has a B.S. in Computer Science from MIT and a M.S. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Pennsylvania. For the last two years, she has devoted herself to the Sourcebooks Shakespeare Experience.

Dominique Raccah is founder, president and publisher of Sourcebooks. Born in Paris, France, she has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in quantitative psychology from the University of Illinois. She also serves as series editor of Poetry Speaks and Poetry Speaks to Children.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780521598224
ISBN 10 0521598222
Title Much Ado about Nothing
Author William Shakespeare
Series Shakespeare In Production
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Year published 1998-02-05
Number of pages 284
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable