Shakespeare Books

I think A Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite Shakespeare comedy. It's the one I've seen performed most often and I even had the opportunity to direct a high school production of it a few years ago. That's why I was so happy to see that Prestwick House was selling a Side-by-Side edition of the book (see my review about their version of Macbeth).

Although the play is a comedy and does not reveal any deep philosophical insights, students often find the characters difficult to keep track of. They also seem not to get the comedy of the play-within-the-play in Act V. But this excellent edition has a very nice "modern translation" right beside Shakespeare's original text.

What I did with my Advanced Placement students was to tell them that they could ready either side (I knew they'd read the "modern"), but in class discussion and in all of their essays, they could only quote the "real" language. This way they had to deal with the actual text, even if they resorted to the translation for plot development and character relationships.

This combination of original text and modern translation is really a marriage made in heaven.

This is a well researched and intelligent book. It not only covers the topic seriously, but uses Midwifery as an allegory (or other appropriate trope) for imperialism, royal legitimacy, the relation between language and reality, and establishing legitimacy and identity. It is a joy. There are constantly suggested questions, "is there such a thing as history, and what is the nature of knowability." Richard III is used as an ikon for distortions of history. As exciting as a late season Yankee-Red Sox game.

I am a little surprised to find myself the first reviewer of this distinguished book. The book is important for two reasons. Above all, Bradshaw is himself an excellent - perceptive, subtle, balanced and sound - critic of Shakespeare. He persuades one that what he sees in Shakespeare is actually "there", and essential to see. Given this ability, he is also in an authoritiatve intellectual position to demolish a good deal of the artificial, contrived nonsense written during the eighties and early nineties, particularly by the "new historicists (so called) and the "cultural materialists": he demonstrates conclusively that for the most part the readings of Shakespeare offered by these critics (inasmuch as they actually discuss Shakespeare rather than offering us onesided views about his period) are distorted and inaccurate when really held up against Shakspeare's plays. Thus Bradshaw's title, *Misrepresentations*, is entirely apposite, and present and future readers of Shakespeare will owe him much for his plain speaking and sharp intelligence, which direct us to the real qualities - not least the artistic ones - of SHAKESPEARE rather than the preoccupations of those who tend to treat him as a political football. Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University (see More about me)

My 7 year old son is familiar with Shakespeare stories because of this book and it's companion volume. He picked it up and read them all himself. It is engaging for those too young to sit down with the original works.

The recent Arkangel Shakespeare entry, , continues the consistently fine acting found in most of the sets in this series. Having as its only competition the CD and cassette re-release by Harper Collins Audio of the old Caedmon set with Rex Harrison and Rachel Roberts, this is a far better recording as regards sound and (I feel) a lot livelier acting that makes the lines easier to follow without a text open in one's hand.

Saskia Reeves' Beatrice is on a par with that of Roberts, as indeed are the rest of the cast with their corresponding actors in the older set. The question remains as to whether one prefers Harrison's more comic approach or Samuel West's more masculine one. For me the touchstone has always been the "Kill Claudio" sequence after the abortive wedding. In the Caedmon set, the director allows (or instructs) Harrison to toss off his refusal so that all the dramatic tension is gone. Here the moment is treated somewhat better, although I still feel so much more could be made of it.

An interesting interpretation in this Arkangel set is that the singer of "Sigh no more ladies," for all his protests that he is a poor singer, actually IS one! In a way, it is a shame since the song is a lovely one (though not sung to the more familiar melody in this production); but this is a comic moment and they are priming Benedick for the Big Deception.

As I always suggest with these rival versions, every English and Drama Department should have both sets and let the students decide. But this is an excellent purchase, unless you love Rex!

I am going to skip a summary of the story as others have written much better than I could have.

I was only planning to listen to a little bit of the play but ended up enjoying the whole thing and being familiar with the story I thought this performance was fabulous. The actors did an excellent job and I would have liked to watch a dvd/video version with the same. I would recommend this to anyone and now I'm going to find more BBC radio plays. I'm also going to find more work by the main actors.

I received the product in great timing and it was well wrapped and delivered in a good timely manner! Terrific service! :)

I study Shakespeare in my high school English class, and used to have a hard time understanding it. Then I got No Fear Shakespeare and now love the work of Shakespeare! Some of the words in the original text you would never think that they mean something different or unexpected in the modern text. It also explains some of the puns and humor. GREAT!!

While Shakespeare is better known for his tragedies, his comedies certainly are worthy of acclaim. This classic, made famous by the 1990's era movie, will not disappoint. Highly recommended as a humorous and light hearted glimpse into the dating and pop-culture of Shakespeare's era.

This is one of those series that is so well done you can't imagaine EVERYONE not knowing about it! Have you always been a bit out of the loop or intimidated about Shakespear? Or are you good with it but don't know how to show/share that love with your family and students. This series will do it!! It's good for ALL ages, my middle school students found it fun and informative yet... really young (4ish) children could learn from it too. Save your self the upgrade and buy it in hardback, this will be one that you keep for generations and get the "WHOLE" series, each one is just as good as the other!