This is the first edition of ''Richard III'' to be developed by and for the RSC, the world's leading Shakespeare theatre company and it includes unique material to help the reader understand and enjoy Shakespeare on the stage as well as on the page. It is illustrated with photographs of classic and unusual performances. It presents outstanding on-page notes which explain words and phrases unfamiliar to a modern audience, including the slang, political references and bawdy humour often ignored or censored in competing editions.It includes scene-by-scene summary, offering an easily understandable way into the play. It includes completely new introduction by Jonathan Bate, exploring the text and critical debates around it. It provides summary of the play's performance history at the RSC and elsewhere. It also includes interviews with important Shakespearean actor Simon Russell Beale, designer Tom Piper and directors Bill Alexander and Richard Eyre, discussing key productions of the play at the RSC.With interviews with actors and directors including Simon Russell Beale, Bill Alexander and Richard Eyre, along with detailed looks at productions at the RSC and elsewhere, this new edition of the play offers innovative ways of looking at and understanding Shakespeare, as well as student-friendly notes and scene-by-scene summaries.