aaIncludes bibliographical references.

The new Applause editions allow the reader and student to look beyond the scholarly reading text to the more sensuous, more collaborative, more malleable performance text which emerges in conjunction with the commentary and notes. Readers and students are faced with real theatrical choices in each speech as the editors point out the challenges and opportunities to the actor and director at each juncture. Readers will not only discover an enlivened Shakespeare, they will be empowered to rehearse and direct their own productions of the imagination in the process.

Each note, each gloss, each commentary reflects the stage life of the play with constant reference to the challenge of the text in performance. In the same way that only actors and directors can bring Shakespeare to life on stage, actors and directors now bring Shakespeare truly to life on the page.