In this book ten leading experts take a fresh look at Shakespeare, reminding us that the playwright’s iconic status has been constructed over the centuries in a process that continues across
the world today. Four hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, it is difficult to imagine a time when he was not considered a genius. But those 400 years have seen his plays banished and
bowdlerized, faked and forged, traded and translated, re-mixed and re-cast. Shakespeare’s story is not one of a steady rise to fame; it is a tale of set-backs and sea-changes that have made
him the cultural icon he is today. Each performance discussed here holds up a mirror to the era in which it was performed. The first stage appearance by a woman in 1660 and a black actor
playingOthello in 1825 were landmarks for society as well as for Shakespeare’s reputation. The book explores productions as diverse as Peter Brook’s legendaryA Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Mark Rylance’s ‘Original Practices’ Twelfth Night, and a Shakespeare forgery staged at Drury Lane in 1796, among many others. The illustrations include the only surviving
playscript in Shakespeare’s hand, an authentic Shakespeare signature, and rare printed editions including the First Folio. These and other treasures from the British Library’s manuscript and
rare book collections feature alongside film stills, costumes, paintings and production photographs.
