Shakespeare Books

I read this book in the La Salle College library in 1965 or 1966, when I was supposed to be in class. I made the right choice. The memory of the description of Richard Burton being booed still brings a smile to my face. Mr. Redfield's witt is a source of constant pleasure throughout. I fondly remember William Redfield as a superbly entertaining guest on many talk shows, during that golden era of talk shows that was the 1960's.

I read this book when I was in high school. More than thirty years later, I took it off the shelf and couldn't put it down. Wity and insightful, William Redfield's Letters from an Actor may be the best book I've read on what it's like to be a working actor in the theatre (I stress "theatre" beacuse Mr. Redfield has some interesting thoughts on film acting.) From frustrating rehearsals to nerve-wracking performances, this unique book puts the reader right on the stage with Mr. Redfield and the cast of Burton's Hamlet. Unfortunately, the theatre that William Redfield knew and loved no longer exists. Fortunately, this book captures an era --probably the end of it--when there was still an audience for dramas and comedies on Broadway, and still outstanding actors to perform in them. I can't think of a better theatre companion than William Redfield. This is a book the needs to be back in print. A great book and great fun!

William Redfield was the BEST actor in the WORLD!!!! And his book "Letters From an Actor" is one of my favorite books in the WORLD!!!! It is funny and fast-reading and I wish it would continue on forever. Anyone who is considering a career in the theatre should definitely read this book. Anyone who isn't considering a career in the theatre should definitely read this book. After you read this book, you feel like you know William Redfield. And everyone, John Gielgud, Richard Burton, etc., were correct when they said that William Redfield and Clem Fowler were the best Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. I recently bought the "Hamlet" DVD with William Redfield. It is one of my favorite movies. And William Redfield and Clem Fowler are the best. And the best parts are the parts with William Redfield, because William Redfield is the best actor in the world!!!!!!!!

I can do nothing more than echo the praise of the other reviewers. This very personal account of the rehearsal process and out-of-town tryout of the 1964 Broadway production of "Hamlet" that starred Richard Burton and was directed by John Gielgud is truly fascinating. William Redfield was a superb actor who could also write well, even though there are a handful of passages that perhaps should have been edited out.

I don't know of any book that gives you a better feeling of what it's like to be in rehearsal and trying to piece together a performance as everyone around you is trying to do the same. Redfield's account of a group of major actors--apart from Redfield and Burton, the cast included Alfred Drake, Hume Cronyn, Eileen Herlie, John Cullum, George Rose, George Voskovec, and Barnard Hughes--working under a director of undoubted genius who is somehow not really helping anyone much definitely makes you feel what it must have been like to be part of that.

If you're an actor, a director, or just love theatre, you will probably find this book fascinating.

This book chronicles the 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton and directed by Sir John Gielgud. The author played Guildenstern in the production.

Frank Rich (for 10 years the Drama Critic at the New York Times) called this his favorite book on an actor's perspective on mounting a play.

I agree with Mr. Rich on this one. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 stars was to avoid overdoing my enthusiasm. (I'm worried people will notice that I am the author's son. Shush, don't tell anyone.)

It got rave reviews at the time it came out and has pleased readers for over 30 years. It is both instructive and hilariously funny.

Please request it at book stores, on line and write to Proscenium Publishing requesting another release.

Thank you

Adam Redfield

This well illustrated book covers the basics of microscopy for the younger reader in an atmosphere of fun and delight. The reader will learn more about their small world and have a good time with the many interesting projects. This book and it's cartoon-like illustrations and detailed photomicrographs are a wonderful example of a fine science book for young readers.

This larger format book contains a wonderful mix of colorful cartoon-like illustrations and full color photomicrographs of interesting projects for learning more about our small world. The book is entertaining, educational, and fun. Teenagers and adults will want to follow-up with the more detailed book "Exploring with the Microscope", by Werner Nachtigall.

This is an excellent book for kids learning about microscopes. It identifies the parts of a microscope and how to use one. It has a lot of well explained experiments (preparing all sorts of slides) for kids to do. There are photographs of what the slides should look like under magnification. The drawings and cartoons throughout the book make it fun and interesting.

My son wanted a microscope for his birthday. I had already bought some microscope books. This one was the best for beginners. On every page there are detailed but cute color pictures explaining all the technical stuff. ALSO, on each page that talks about viewing a particular object under the microscope, there's an ACTUAL PHOTO of the object under the microscop, so you don't have to guess if you're looking at the right thing. This is a really fun book. Before I looked at this book I was getting discouraged because the other two books seemed way too complicated and thus boring for my 8 year old son.

NOT ONLY are the pictures and experiments great, but this book talks about SAFETY, it tells you what overall SUPPLIES you will need, for each individual experiment what SUPPLIES you will need, it explains--in a FUN WAY--how the microscope and other lenses work. ALSO, in the authors own words, "THE MICROSCOPE BOOK is intended to teach children basic techniques and observation skills WITHOUT DESTROYING ANY LIFE FORMS."

I commend the authors Shar Levine & Leslie Johnstone and the Illustrator David Sovka.

This is my favorite kids' microscpoe book. I wish that I had had it when I was a child, enraptured by my first microscope. The book uses clear directions, specific lists of materials needed, accessible drawings and actual photographs.

The first section, Lights, Lenses & Microscopes, explains the priciples of how a microscope works and why. It also covers how to measure and how to keep a journal of your findings. I wish that kids would read this section, but many may skip directly to the experiments in the next several sections. The book also has some safety tips, but parents should read those parts with the child so that they make sure that these are not skipped.

The biology section shows ways to view plants, fish scales and other items. I liked the section on how to build your own microtome using a wooden spool, a carrot and a screw. The geology section is shorter but has some good ideas about looking at crystals. There are also short sections on forensics and fibers. The section on food and the environment include fun activities using mould, yeast and mushrooms.

Each activitiy description is short enough to keep an older elementary-younger middle school kid entertained. The author puts in educational snippets that enlighten but do not overburden the young reader.

This book is a fun introduction to the microscope that will encourage kids to explore more.

I have read this and think that it is a must for anyone. The characters are well-developed and unusual.The plot is complex but manages to stay easy to understand. The language is the only problem.Although the language is a slight drawback, after you get through it you unearth poetry that is a wonderful example of old-english culture.The complicated love-triangles,well, you can't really call them triangles, they are more like squares, involving the 4 main characters.Ultimately, I think that this is a wonderful book and i really do suggest that anyone does read it.

I thought that Midsummer Nights Dream was a good comedy by William Shakespeare. This book is about 2 couples who are in love with one another but their love changes when fairies come with a special plant to change their hearts. The couples are then in love with the wrong person for the wrong reason. While all this is going on, common people are preparing a play for the duke's wedding. Although the play is short, every part of it is enjoyable and funny. If you read one scene, you will want to read the next.

As a seventh grader I have just finished the required read of a MidSummer's Night dream and I found it to have a plot line that kids can relate to through movies but not through the life that a kid lives. We see love all over televsion and we see how it works and we can connect that to the play. What I do think that was great about this is how it kept to ryhming and a rhythem, I think that is what creates a great book!

I had to read this book in English class and I thought it was enertaining. I liked the way it was like an old fashioned soap opera, only more entertaining. I think at one point in our lives we should read this book to show the true meaning of love being messed up. I sometimes wonder now if Puck on the Real World's role model was this Puck. Oh well, whatever. This is probably one of Shakespeares best plays if you ask me.

One of Shakespeare's most enjoyable works, "A Midsummer's Nights Dream" is the story of four lovers (either loved, in love, or both) who travel into an "enchanted" forest, filled with magical fairies who play tricks on them and even themselves. Meanwhile, a hapless stage production prepares for a performance at the Duke's wedding. All storylines lead to an enjoyable resolution climaxing with the hilarious performance of "The Most Lamentable Comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe." This is one of Shakespeare's funniest and consequently is one of his most univerally-enjoyed plays. I recommend it for anyone with any interest at all in Shakespeare's works.

I'm sure Anthony Burgess's Nothing Like the Sun is like nothing I've ever read before. The novel is subtitled A Story of Shakespeare's Love-life; Burgess's essential claim is that Shakespeare's literary genius was borne out of his lust. It's an interesting thesis, as desire can be quite a motivator, and Burgess manages to convince.

The novel is rich with period detail and dialogue; indeed, it might take some time for the casual reader to become accustomed to Burgess's use of Early Modern English. For readers familiar with Shakespeare's sonnets and plays, the novel is a delight of allusions. I found myself wishing I were much more familiar with Shakespeare even than I am, having taught several of his plays (and some of them many times) because I feel sure that some allusions passed me by.

Burgess crafted a plausible, entertaining narrative from the few scraps of information we have about Shakespeare's life and in the process, held a lens up to Shakespeare's work and times, exposing both work and times as sublime and filthy at the same time. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interesting in learning more about Shakespeare or about Elizabethan England.

Lacks the tragic inevitability of "Dead Man in Deptford", but still a good read. Brilliant language, Elizabethan England nicely evoked, well-drawn characters, clever speculation to fill in the gaps in what we know of Shakespeare's life. A bit crazy, especially at first, but that's what you pay for with Burgess, right?

This fictional account strings together those facts we know about Shakespeare and uses complete and admitted fancy to flesh out the rest of his life. In this way, Burgess creates a fascinating and engaging lifestory of the young provincial man who became the greatest playwright of our language. While clearly a novel, it manages to make real, palpable people from those faceless names of the Elizabethean time, and helps makes sense (or nonsense) of so many of the theories surrounding Shakespeare's genius. It's vividness shows Burgess as a master of both academia and imagination. A thoroughly good read, and a must for anyone remotely interested in Shakespeare.

By Tom Crawford

Burgess has taken the few facts we have about the life of Shakespeare and spun them into a most engaging story, centered around his relationship with the "dark lady" of the sonnets. Here we have a Shakespeare who lives and loves and always aspires to a higher social standing that he, the son of a modest glover from Stratford, will never achieve. But no matter -- as Burgess makes clear, he is the genius whose work will outlive all of the mere nobility of his time.

Among other things, Burgess speculates that Shakespeare bequeathed his "second best" bed to his wife because he caught her there with his younger brother. Burgess also elaborates on a theory put forth by other Shakespearean experts -- that Will contracted syphillis and spent the last years of his life disease-ridden as a result. Did it all happen exactly this way? Who knows? But you'll enjoy speculating along with the author.

Burgess, who was always a clever man with words himself, writes in the conversational tone and flow that one most likely would have heard in Elizabethan England. This might seem tiresome to the casual reader, but it helps establish an atmosphere that feels right. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the biographical background to Shakespeare's plays (or anyone with an interest in the Bard at all).

Anthony Burgess's "Nothing Like The Sun" is a linguistic marvel. It is a philosophically oppressive look at William Shakespeare's foray into literature and the world. Starting in the small 'borough' of Stratford, WS (as he is called) is an apprentice leather craftsman. He spends his days and nights dreaming of plays, gentility, and idealistic love.

Most of the novel shows WS trying to figure out what kind of love he is after. His notions of love come from Plato's "Symposium" - will it be common, physical lust, or contemplation of absolute beauty leading to his best poetic and dramatic works? The relationships that the novel explores these questions with are with the youthful noble Henry Wriothesly and the exotic, colonial Fatima.

Burgess delights in wordplay throughout the novel, using for the most part, the language of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets in the narration and dialogue. Unlike "Shakespeare in Love" Burgess's novel does not build around any specific text, instead making his works almost marginal to the drama of Shakespeare's fictional biography. Burgess presents Shakespeare's works as the results and expressions of a desperate life.

Burgess augments Shakespeare's story with an almost post-colonial historical setting. With Fatima allegedly from the Indies, and a backdrop of English oppression of the Irish, "Nothing Like The Sun" complicates Shakespeare's historical moment. Class struggles, plagues, and political sterility also mark the temporal setting as the novel moves from the country (Stratford) to the coast (Bristol) to the capital (London).

Reading "Nothing Like The Sun" was a welcome experience for me, having only ever read Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange" before. The writing style takes a little getting used to, but that is the price you pay for art. I highly recommend it.

This book is brilliant! It is the best acting lesson on interpreting the Bard you could ever receive. And one of the best cases yet for a bucket of cold water in the faces of Oxfordians everywhere. Tucker's approach proves that only an actor could have written these works.

This book explains how to "read" Shakespeare easily. (Actually, it's about how to act his plays, but the ideas can equally well be used to simply read the plays with greater appreciation.) The method presented is quite easy and it makes the plays come to life. I wish I had this book 25 years ago when I studied Shakespeare in school.

I have just started this book, but already I want to read Shakespeare's plays again to see what I missed - and I missed plenty. You also begin to understand why Shakespeare was a great play-writer, why his works have stood the test of time while the other writers of his age have withered away.

Some of the interesting observerations: Thee vs. You has real significance (the former is intimitate while the latter is formal), why he writes in prose sometimes, the significance of the iambic pentameter (di-dum, etc.).

The author also dispels a myth that English spoken in Shakespeare's time was hard compared to today. Rather Shakespeare's words were always harder than the common speak of the day, yet his plays were able to be well understood because of the "clues" presented in the writing, which made the actors act the part correctly, thus making the language easier to understand. Don't worry if you did not fully this last paragraph. The book will explain all.

And, soon you'll be able to turn the pages of a Shakespeare play faster than that of a John Grisham novel.

The most significant aspect of this book is Tucker's imperative respect for the First Folios. These earliest of Shakespearean texts, which feature spelling errors and a messier type set, offer and the book tries and proves over and over, the best acting/performance texts.

The distinction between acting/performance texts and scholastic/reading ones is essential, as Tucker again and again subverts the modern editions of Shakespeare, and the editors, who continually add and make scholastic/academic assumption as to the intent of the texts. These editors reduce the active nature of the texts and "regularize" over and over what the original actors had to work with.

Through the Original Shakespeare Company, which he co-founded, Tucker and his actors approach the texts as the actors who originated them did. This was by using no rehearsal time, and giving each actor only the texts they speak and the appropriate cue lines, allowing for a spontaneous and urgent playmaking which heightens the already heightened Shakespeare.

Through this approach, which originally was one of practicality, the actors tasks are enhanced. Listening becomes that much more important, as do the choices each actor must make based soley on the texts which are devoid of modern directions and edits; such as to who to speak to, whether or not a speech is an aside, particular capitalization and punctuation and stage business.

For anyone who performs Shakespeare this is a terrific book. As well for directors this may even be better. Tucker breaks down the "original approach" in the early part of the book. Then spends the largest chunk detailing the experiments he and his company made with this approach, beginning with scenes through full text performances. There is then a terrific section devoted to particular ways of finding the secrets in the text, and the associated choices one can make on stage.

While the section about the details of the company's performances is too long and sometimes repetative, the book is a revelation. Anyone willing to try this style would surely feel the difference, as an audience would too.By scrapping the modern trappings of what theatre is, to reduce it to it's leanest and most energetic, magnetic form in the use of the phenomenal texts of Shakespeare can realize the power of theatre and clarify it's immortal importance and necessity.

I really wish my teachers had this book when I was in school. It would have made Shakespeare so much more fun to study. Going back to Shakespeare after reading Secrets of Acting Shakespeare, you can actualy see the stage directions with every word Shakespeare writes. When you know the stage directions Shakespeare wrote into his texts, Shakespeare's works become so much more fun to read. Patrick takes you through the way Shakespeare's plays were performed when Shakespeare was still alive, and leads you through the discoveries Patrick's actors made when he and his theater company started performing Shakespeare's plays the way Shakespeare wanted it done. Needless to say, this book is the best book on Shakespearian Acting I've ever read, and would recommend it to anyone who's even slightly interested in the Bard's works. I would also recommend Patrick Tucker's First Folio Monologue books for men and women. They're a crash course in the work Patrick covered in Secrets of Acting Shakespeare, and a great way to sink your teeth into Patrick's ideas.

-Christian, Improvactor.com

This is an exciting book about how Shakespeare's plays actually got on to the stage. The actors then were hardworking, often doing a different play each night, and there was no time for rehearsal as we know it today.
The actors learnt their parts from cue scripts, long scrolls showing the last few words of the previous speech and then their own. They had to be extra attentive or they might miss their entry. The Book-holder, or prompt, was the only person to have the entire text (a valuable document you didn't want anybody else to steal, no copyright in those days) was prominently on stage to see that things went right and, if a prompt was needed, it was given openly. The audience accepted this as part of the performance though anybody needing too many prompts would doubtless get some barracking.
The author, who clearly has a science background and knows how to present a logical case, shows that all the information needed is in the First Folio which is an actors' tool, not a dead piece of Eng Lit. 'you', 'thou' and 'thee' are not interchangeable but actually tell the actor where to stand in relation to others on the stage. Modern editions of Shakespeare have tidied the text up to be read by students; the First Folio had lines, half lines, capital letters in odd places, strange commas; but all actually telling the actor what to do.
The author has been working as a director for the last forty years or so and has refined his theories on the job. He has run The Original Shakespeare Company with many successful productions using his methods. He is wildly popular with his actors and the few productions he was allowed to do at The Globe, London, were sold out and enthusiastically received.
The academic world and theatre establishment are not so happy to see their entrenched theories challenged; and it must be extra annoying that he writes so well and is such a pleasure to read.

This book is filled with warm and inviting ideas. I liked the different styles and types of homes that were featured. There were many ideas I think can be used in any home. It's refreshing to see that a house does not have to be pretentious to be featured in a book - several were quaint cottages. I liked the author's assertion that serenity is whatever makes you feel happy and content in your own home.

What I enjoyed most about this book is the insight that it gave into the lives and homes of real people. The author insists that each person should spend time exploring what they like personally, and developing decor around it. Home is where the heart is, and this book gives each of us inspiration to follow our hearts.

I loved the book because it gave me permission to follow my own instinct. There is a great deal of versatility to what works for each person. It's apparent from the assortment of homes - from small cottages to a beautiful chateau that no matter what the size of your home, each individual should follow their own style.
Thank you for affirming my choices in decorating by knowing that I have surrounded myself with what makes ME feel serene!

I loved the way the book showed real homes of real people and what they did to make their own home special. Several of the houses are the homes of families with children, and they still look great. Practical ideas. I think this book offers something for everyone who likes a warm style.

The Serene Home was a treat to read. The pictures are lovely and all the tips and hints were especially helpful. This is one of the best decorating books that I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to accomplish a serene feeling in any room.

I love the 2 CD set. There are poems which you understand now and some later depending on life experience, I enjoy listening and experiencing these lovely poems by the great poets of all time read by the greatest actors and orators of all time. I really recommend this compilation.

If you are a lover of poetry, you will certainly love this cd set. The speakers do a spectacular job. I highly recommend this product.

This 2 cd set is based on William Shakespere's "The Seven Ages."
Selected poems are read by well known British actors/actresses with classical music to accompany the readings. Some of my favorites are "The Owl and the Pussycat" read by John Cleese, "A Parental Ode" by Ralph Fiennes, "The Quangle Wangle's Hat" by Connie Booth and "My Heart Leaps Up" by Robert Hardy.
A purchase of this two cd set benefits The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

collection of poetry with some music thrown in that I could find out there as a Christmas gift. I also had the opportunity to listen to the first quarter of the poems. However, my set was an audio cassette set, very different in appearance from the cassette set currently available from Naxos. Unfortunately, that set seems to have disappeared from the market; what is available is either the full set on CD, or the abridged version on cassette.

Some of the poems are truly marvellous, and well worth buying this set for. The price is great too. Where else can you find some of the greatest names in British theater (and a minor royal) declaiming some of the best poems (as compiled by David Owen) concerning the seven ages of a human being (as listed by William Shakespeare)? While not all the choices appealed to me, it was wonderful to hear the voices of Ian McKellen, David Suchet, Derek Jacobi and others declaim certain lines. The listing of the poems is comprehensive only under popular music (an odd choice, I think). The listing is not available under books (audiobooks), which is a great pity.

The music only introduces each stage. Each of the readers then continues, sans music. Therefore the description of this work as poetry set to music might be a bit misleading.

I think that this volume also might be a bit overwhelming for someone not used to listening to more than a few minutes of poetry. My recommendation is to start out slowly, and then pause for awhile if needed. Gradually, you can build up to listening more. There are almost no pauses in between poems (except for the necessary pause to distinguish one poem and reader from another). A little bit more music in between (every 15 minutes) might have helped. But if you want a lot of poetry and great actors for your money, this little set is a gem.

I rate this about 4.5

Based on Lord David Owen's book Seven Ages: Poetry for a Lifetime, this Naxos audiobook edition of Seven Ages: An Anthology Of Poetry With Music features outstanding and memorable dramatic readings by forty British actors ranging from Michael Caine and Judi Dench to John Cleese and Glenda Jackson. The poetry is drawn from the works of William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes, Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, W.B. Yeats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, A.E. Housman, Robert Burns, D.H. Lawrence, John Keats, Seamus Heaney, Wilfred Owen, Matthew Arnold, John Dunne, Walt Whitman, Rabindranath Tagge, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Ogden Nash, Christinia Rossetti, and many others. Total Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

This is a wonderful book: at once gracefully summarizing what is known and adding importantly to that store of knowledge, Kastan's book, gracefully and often wittily written, compellingly tells the story of how the plays we love to read reached print -- from their own time even to our own computor age. This is a book that will delight lovers of Shakespeare and also reassure those who are worrying that the age of the book is quickly passing. The beauty of this book alone itself insures this will not be so. Bravo!!

I loved this book. It is beautiful written, even funny in places, is a clear and always interesting account of how Shakespeare made it into print (and what print has done to him since). Anyone interested in Shakespeare and in books will enjoy this and learn from it.

This is just plain fun--or not so plain, but amazingly enjoyable for something so filled with new and surprising information. Kastan writes well, seemingly knows everything that has been written on this vast topic, and makes it accessible and exciting.

this is informative, wittily written, and filled with surprises about how Shakespeare became "Shakespeare"; it is also a beautifully produced book, as one would expect from Cambridge.
The paperback makes a great gift for anyone interested in Shakespeare or in the history of the book, even as that history moves into the digital era. A great buy and a must for any college or good high school library.

Shakespeare as we read him! This is wonderful! hard to believe so much information could be made so available and fun to read. Well written and a good looking book--and the price is right!

I have used this marvelous book for 5 years to teach Shakespeare to my fifth graders. Albert Cullum does an amazing job of editing the works to make them comprehensible (with a teacher's help and guidance) for younger readers without losing the major ideas of the plays, or "over-modernizing" Shakespeare's language. Though I have purchased a number of other resource books to help me teach Shakespeare, I always end up putting them aside to pick up this wonderful volume of plays. I recommend this book wholeheartedly to middle school language arts teachers!

For years I have used this book (it's first incarnation was by Scholastic Publishing) very successfully with elementary students. Children develop a love for the bard and an appreciation of his deep understanding of human nature. I love the way Dr. Cullum preserves many of the great speeches but has perfectly adapted the play for his young audience. Bravo, Dr. Cullum!

This book is a great resource for English and drama teachers who'd like to bring condensed and simplified versions of Shakespeare's most famous plays into the classroom or rehearsal hall. The plays are about 45 minutes each in performance length and give great thumbnail snapshops of the main themes and broad strokes of the plays. One could always supplement these fun short versions of the plays with extended additions from the original text if desired...but the plays are readable and performable as presented in this book.

This book was previously published as 'Shake Hands with Shakespeare" by Albert Cumins. I used it by checking it out of the library for a while. I was thrilled to finally have my own copy with upgraded pictures. I teach 8th graders, and we love using this book! I highly recommend it to all teachers and parents whose children enjoy plays. It is the best way to start the love of Shakespeare in young readers.

I had the pleasure of taking two classes with Dr. Cullum last year at Stonehill College. This book has become a truly valuable resource in my classroom. The plays presented here retain the quality and power of the originals, yet made accessible to a younger audience. They will serve as an excellent introduction for many young people to the world of Shakespeare. Once again, Dr. Cullum creates a classic! The only book that he needs to write now is a collection of his own teaching wisdom. For the next best thing, sign up for one of his classes ASAP, you won't regret it.

I thought Shakespeare of London by Marchette Chute was an excellent biography for several reasons. She wrote in a very readable, engaging style which was easy to follow and understand. Prior to reading this book, I had read a lot of information about Shakespeare. Initially, when I started reading this book I was a little put off by the "just-the-facts-mam" style, but the more I read the more I appreciated the biographer telling the facts she knew without overindulging in assumptions based on these facts, as other more recent biographers have done. I also really appreciated how she fully grounded Shakespeare in his time and place and vocation. As a lit student in college, all I ever heard about was Shakespeare's literary genius as a playwright; the fact that he remained a prominant actor in his company during the entire time he was writing plays was completely glossed over. This book, which never disregards Shakespeare as an actor, was something of a revelation to me. At times I felt her potrayal of Shakespeare as a person may have been a bit naive because she never attributed any remotely bad characteristic to him, but overall, I thought the biography was exceptionally well done. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants solid, unbiased information about the Shakespeare of London.

We know very little about William Shakespeare. He wrote in a time after the invention of the printing press, but before the invention of newspapers and magazines, so the sort of journalism which we rely on today to tell us more than we want to know about the inner lives of show-business figures did not exist during his lifetime.

Anyone who wants to write a full-length biography of this man, one of the greatest writers of our planet, has two choices. She can either make up stuff along the way, as countless Shakespeare biographers have done since the 1600s, or she can stick to the fragmentary facts and fit them into a picture of the social structure and life that Shakespeare lived in. This is what Chute does in her now out-of-print classic, and as readers of this review can see, I think she did a superb job.

Chute's book is superb not only because she is a vivid writer, not only because she tells us why certain things were the way they were, but because she respects the people she is writing about. When she tells us why Elizabethan "players" and their property managers liked tawny-orange dye for their costumes, she not only tells us why they liked it (it was a "color-fast" dye which would not fade) but conveys to us some of the combination of freedom and limits which made up Elizabethan society. The men and women of London were people who, on the one hand, could not buy the color-stable, wash-and-wear clothes we wear without a thought today, but on the other hand, if they could find a good dye or could afford to wear a bright color, they could gaudy themselves up in a way which grownups are too shy to do nowadays. As always, something has been lost and something has been gained, and Chute knows this and doesn't write history on the basis of "look at how many mistakes those poor little people made" or "look at all those great heroes of the past." They are men and women and children who could have learned from us, and we can learn from them. All of them, Shakespeare first among them but not the only one.

Shakespeare of London not only has the most plain old-fashioned charm of any Shakespeare bio I've ever read, it helps make sense of the man and his work using details of the world he lived in and the people he knew in a way that more popular books of the bard just do not. He not only comes alive - he lives up to expectations!

Chute has written a terrific account of a difficult life. Biographies of Shakespeare are difficult in that there is so little known of his life. This is unusual -- and somewhat ironic, given the subject matter -- when one takes into account the Elizabethan's propensity for journaling. But Chute is able to place Shakespeare firmly within his time, making few assumptions, but presenting the known facts of Shakespeare's life in a lively and fascinating manner. She strongly establishes the assumption that Shakespeare was considered one of London's finest actors and also places context around the performance of the plays. What is most fascinating is how Chute gives a glimpse into the contemporary response to Shakespeare's writings. While Shakespeare's "competitors" -- that is, his contemporary playwrights -- may have appreciated the breadth and scale of his writing, to a certain extent, they looked down upon the popularity of his plays. Just like today, the so-called elite of our society tend to overlook those writings or performances that are appreciated by a mass audience.
Where Chute falls down somewhat is that, like so many biographers, she over-apologizes for her subject. In Chute's vivid description, Shakespeare, seemingly, could do no wrong. Time and again, Chute refutes the contemporary criticisms that were made of Shakespeare's writings. Fault can be found in geniuses, as well as hacks.
Her book ends perhaps one chapter too late. After Shakespeare was finished professionally, he retired to a quiet life in Stratford. The only extant writing that refers to Shakespeare's final years are lawsuits that appear with his name. While it does give a minimal sense of Shakespeare's activities, it does not make for very interesting reading and, in fact, places an overemphasis on perhaps meaningless records. But this minimal criticism aside, Chute's book overall gives a wonderful sense of a fascinating person living in a fascinating time.

For some reason I have been obtaining and reading biographies of William Shakespeare lately. This book, and the recent biography by Peter Levi, are the ones I have been most satisfied with.

The real strength of Professor Chute's book is her insistence on placing Shakespeare accurately as one of the most famous ACTORS of his day. On lists of the companies of players he often appears first or second. Now, as Prof. Chute makes clearer than anyone else, this tells us a lot about the man. Prominent actors not only had to be healthy and athletic, they had to be great fencers... the audience expected to see incredible swordplay, not fakery... wonderful dancers... the performance always ended with the cast doing elaborate ensemble dances as well as individual specialties... and expert instrumentalists or singers... the play began with a concert lasting about half an hour. All this in addition to being able to play well a variety of parts (including several parts in the same performance) on very short notice and with very short preparation.

Prof. Chute is sound and grounded about many aspects of Shakespeare's life that lead other biographers to wild surmises. I suspect she is about the only biographer to understand how Shakespeare's marriage worked. No matter how much you have read about Shakespeare, you will find many new insights and perspectives in this book.