List of figures and tables
Preface
Chapter 1 Character
Juliet's balcony, Verona
Shakespeare's realism？
Shakespeare's 'unreal' characters
Reading Shakespeare's characters on the page
Embodying Shakespeare's characters on stage
Doubling on the early modern stage
Writing for particular actors
Falstaff：character as individual or type？
Naming and individuality
Characters as individuals or as inter-relationships
Character：interior or exterior？
Character：where next？
Chapter 2 Performance
Measure for Measure. staging silence
‘Going back to the text’：the challenge of performance
Performance interpretations：The Taming of the Shrew
Topical performance：the plays in different theatrical contexts
Citing performances
Using film
Using film comparatively：Macbeth
Hamlet:‘To be or not to be’
Adaptations：Shakespearean enough？
Performance：where next？
Chapter 3 Texts
Shakespeare's hand
So what did Shakespeare write？
Stage to page
Quartos and Folio
Editing as interpretation
The job of the editor：the example of Richard Ⅱ
Stage directions
Speech prefixes
The job of the editor：the example of KingLear
Texts：where next？
Chapter 4 Language
‘In a double sense’(Macbeth 5.7.50)
Did anyone really talk like that？
Playing with language
Language of the play/language of the person
Prose and verse
Linguistic shifts：i Henry Ⅳ
Shakespeare's verse
Linguistic variation：A Midsummer Night's Dream
Language：where next？
Chapter 5 Structure
Finding the heart of the play
Shakespeare's genres：dynamic, not static
Tragedy and comedy
Tragedy-expanding the genre
Comedy-expanding the genre
History：is this a fixed genre？
Structuring scenes：Much Ado About Nothing
Juxtaposing scenes, activating ironies：Henry V
Showing v. telling
Structure：where next？
Chapter 6 Sources
Antony and Cleopatra and Plutarch
Originality：was Shakespeare a plagiarist？
Shakespeare at work：the intentional fallacy？
The source bites back：Romeo and Juliet and The Winter's Tale
The strong poet？ King Lear
Sources：where next？
Chapter 7 History
Politic picklocks：interpreting topically
History plays：political Shakespeare？
History plays：Shakespeare as propagandist？
Hamlet as history play？
Jacobean patronage：King Lear and Macbeth
Historical specificity：gender roles
Race and Othello
History：where next？
Bibliography
Index
