Studying Shakespeare in Performance

John Russell Brown is arguably the most influential scholar in the field of Shakespeare in performance. This collection brings together and makes accessible his most important writings across the past half-century or so. Ranging across space, words, audiences, directors and themes, the book maps John Russell Brown's search for a fuller understanding of Shakespeare's plays in performance. New introductory notes for each chapter give a fascinating insight into his critical and scholarly journey. Together the essays provide an authoritative and engaging account of how to study Shakespeare's plays as texts for performance. Drawing readers into a wide variety of approaches and debates, this book will be important and provocative reading for anyone studying Shakespeare or staging one of his plays.

JOHN RUSSELL BROWN is an Honorary Visiting Professor at University College London, and has held chairs of English and Theatre in both England and the USA. He has directed renaissance and contemporary plays in student and professional theatres: for twelve years he was an Associate Director of the Royal National Theatre. He is series editor for The Shakespeare Handbooks and Theatres of the World and has edited and contributed to the Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. Among his previous publications are Shakespeare: The Tragedies, Shakespeare and the Theatrical Event and Shakespeare Dancing, all published by Palgrave Macmillan.