During the eighteenth century, theatrical writing developed as a genre. The publishing market responded to a seemingly insatiable appetite for accounts of the personalities, social lives and performances of celebrated entertainers. This series features actors who were significant in their development of new ways of performing Shakespeare.

Thinking Shakespeare gives theater artists practical advice about how to make Shakespeare’s words feel spontaneous, passionate, and real. Based on Barry Edelstein’s thirty-year career directing Shakespeare’s plays, this book provides the tools that artists need to fully understand and express the power of Shakespeare’s language.

Playing Shakespeare is the premier guide to understanding and appreciating the mastery of the world’s greatest playwright. Together with Royal Shakespeare Company actors–among them Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, and David Suchet–John Barton demonstrates how to adapt Elizabethan theater for the modern stage. The director begins by explicating Shakespeare’s verse and prose, speeches and soliloquies, and naturalistic and heightened language to discover the essence of his characters. In the second section, Barton and the actors explore nuance in Shakespearean theater, from evoking irony and ambiguity and striking the delicate balance of passion and profound intellectual thought, to finding new approaches to playing Shakespeare’s most controversial creation, Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice. A practical and essential guide, Playing Shakespeare will stand for years as the authoritative favorite among actors, scholars, teachers, and students.

Focuses on David Garrick and the leading actors of his company at Drury Lane. This book tells how, in their time, Garrick, Macklin and Woffington were as famous for their achievements on the stage as they were infamous for their activities off it. It draws a selection of the actors' own words with those of their contemporaries and critics.

Extracts from diaries, memoirs, private letters, obituaries and other rare ephemera are drawn together to build a contemporary account of the acting achievements and personal lives of three inspiring figures from the late nineteenth-century theatre; Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

Features three female actors who were significant in their development of new and innovative ways of performing Shakespeare.

Without William Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have literary masterpieces like Romeo and Juliet. But without Henry Condell and John Heminges, we would have lost half of Shakespeare’s plays forever! After the death of their friend and mentor, the two actors are determined to compile the First Folio and preserve the words that shaped their lives. They’ll just have to borrow, beg, and band together to get it done. Amidst the noise and color of Elizabethan London, THE BOOK OF WILL finds an unforgettable true story of love, loss, and laughter, and sheds new light on a man you may think you know.

Nominated for Tony Award, Best Play "Illuminating, enlivening, a sheer joy." James Christopher, Time Out "Sharp characterization and magical theatricality." John Peter, The London Times "Containing statements like 'American actors for America!' and the ugly sounds of a nationalist riot, the play holds a disturbing mirror up to a world where fundamentalist bigotry is on the increase... It is Nelson's achievement to have done this through a drama that is also quite exhilarating." Paul Taylor, The Independent "This is a must for theatre lovers; or as the actor sitting next to me put it, 'Now I know why theatre has me by the throat.' Precisely!" Liz Gilbey, What's On "Mr Nelson's work is partly about the glorious chaos of play-making but also chases much bigger themes. On one level, his play is about theatre as a metaphor for post-colonial arrogance... On another level, it is about the power and mystery of acting itself." Michael Billington, The Guardian

Secrets of Acting Shakespeare isn't a book that gently instructs. It's a passionate, yes-you-can designed to prove that anybody can act Shakespeare. By explaining how Elizabethan actors had only their own lines and not entire playscripts, Patrick Tucker shows how much these plays work by ear. Secrets of Acting Shakespeare is a book for actors trained and amateur, as well as for anyone curious about how the Elizabethan theater worked.

Catalogs Shakespeare's life, his times, his use of language and choice of words, the best and most insulting lines from his plays and poems, the actors who have performed his plays, the theaters where they have been performed, and the videos, films, and spin-offs of his works.