This book opens up Twelfth Night as a play to see and hear, provides useful contextual and source material, and considers the critical and theatrical reception over four centuries. A detailed performance commentary brings to life the many moods of Shakespeare's subtle but robust humour. Students are encouraged to imagine the theatrical challenges of Shakespeare's Illyria afresh for themselves, as well as the thought, creative responses and wonder it has provoked.
Shakespeare Handbooks are brand new introductions to the plays. The heart of each volume is a commentary that leads a reader through the text showing how its words come alive in performance and what needs to happen on stage as its action unfolds. This offers an experience akin to being at a performance.
Supporting each commentary are accounts of the play-text and early performances and a sampling of books and documents that represent the social and cultural context in which it was written. In further chapters, landmark productions and films are described to introduce a variety of performances and a selection of critical opinions are cited. The aim is to encourage informed and independent study.
These innovative books will bring to students the many recent advances in the study of Shakespeare's plays as texts for performance.