This handbook offers a way in to reading Anthony and Cleopatra theatrically. Through analyses of key productions, an account of the historical conditions in which the play was first produced, and a scene-by-scene account of how the play might be approached in performance, this book focuses on the challenges of staging the notorious lovers.

Acknowledgements
General Editor's Preface
The Text and Early Performances
Commentary
The Play's Sources and Cultural Context
Key Performances and Productions
The Play on Screen
Critical Assessments
Further Reading
Index.

This Shakespeare Handbook offers a stimulating and accessible guide to Antony and Cleopatra as theatre. It focuses on the challenges of bringing the notorious lovers and their world to the stage, and explores both recent and Renaissance theatrical approaches.

A scene-by-scene account of the play examines the various ways in which the play can be performed, and shows the characters as theatrical beings, in dynamic relationship with both each other and the audience. Lively, critical close readings of key stage and film versions demonstrate the importance of every element of the theatre event in the interpretation of this play's startling shifts from passion to pragmatism, comedy to tragedy, grandeur to irony. The play is contextualised historically, culturally and in terms of its sources, and suggestions for further reading guide the student through the play's critical reception.

By guiding readers through the difficulties of plot and language in Shakespeare's works, the Handbooks leave them free to enjoy their depth, beauty, and vitality. Each handbook covers a single play and includes: a complete, straightforward description of the plot; quotations from the text, with explanations of unfamiliar words or phrases; some thought-provoking facts and ideas about the play; and a few comments from critics, past and present.

Series Editor: By Alistair McCallum