Twelfth Night [Hardcover]

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.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.

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

PAUL EDMONDSON is Head of Education for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and an Honorary Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute in the UK. He is co-supervisory General Editor of the New Penguin Shakespeare and author of Shakespeare's Sonnets.The only introduction to Twelfth Night on the market which offers a theatrical commentary enabling students to get a sense of the plays as performance texts
A userfriendly guide to Twelfth Night which helps readers towards their own informed and imaginative view of the play