
As You Like It
As You Like It
William Shakespeare(Author)
Cynthia Marshall(Editor)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 31. May 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
284 pages
978-0-521-78649-2 (ISBN)
Description
As You Like It has sometimes seemed a subversive play that exposes the instability of gender roles and traditional values. In other eras it has been prized - or derided - as a reliable celebration of conventional social mores. The play's ability to encompass these extremes tells an interesting story about changing cultural and theatrical practices. This edition provides a detailed history of the play in production, both on stage and on screen. The introduction examines how changing conceptions of gender roles have affected the portrayal of Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's greatest comic heroines. The striking differences between the British tradition and the freer treatment the play has received abroad are discussed, as well as the politics of court versus country. The commentary, printed alongside the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of the text, draws on primary sources to illuminate how costuming, stage business, design, and directorial choices have shaped the play in performance.
Reviews / Votes
'I cannot recommend too highly the whole series (a bargain at GBP16.99 for each play) to all theatre lovers, theatregoers, theatre practitioners, and anybody who enjoys Shakespeare.' Robert Tanitch, What's on in London 'In short, this excellent edition is not only a practical handbook on As You Like It; it is also a demonstration of the play's power as a cultural prism which colourfully displays humanity's muddle of evolving values.' Around the GlobeMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
13 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
418 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-78649-2 (9780521786492)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
06/2004
Cambridge University Press
€135.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. It is unknown exactly when A Midsummer Night's Dream was written or first performed, but on the basis of topical references and an allusion to Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion, it is usually dated 1595 or early 1596. Some have theorised that the play might have been written for an aristocratic wedding (for example that of Elizabeth Carey, Lady Berkeley), while others suggest that it was written for the Queen to celebrate the feast day of St. John, but no evidence exists to support this theory. In any case, it would have been performed at The Theatre and, later, The Globe. Though it is not a translation or adaptation of an earlier work, various sources such as Ovid's Metamorphoses and Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" served as inspiration. According to John Twyning, the play's plot of four lovers undergoing a trial in the woods was intended as a "riff" on Der Busant, a Middle High German poem. According to Dorothea Kehler, the writing period can be placed between 1594 and 1596, which means that Shakespeare had probably already completed Romeo and Juliet and had yet to start working on The Merchant of Venice. The play belongs to the early-middle period of the author, when Shakespeare devoted his attention to the lyricism of his works.
Content
List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Table of productions; Introduction; Text and commentary; Bibliography.