William Shakespeare Books

I am a student of Dr Lavender's and the book was on the reading list for his course at the Central School of Speech & Drama. I purchased the book tentatively considering selfish factors such as sales and authorial royalties. However despite this initial reticence and cynicism this is a thoroughly researched and crafted piece of theatrical commentary.

Lavneder focuses on three of the great contemporary theatrical visionaries and places their working methods under a sharlply focused scholarly microscope. His remarks on Brook's working methods are particularly insightful when reading The Shifting Point concurrently.

This is a fine piece of work and one that any student of directing, contemporary theatre practice or indeed Shakespeare would do well to read.

Andy didn't pay me to say write this. Go buy it!

The experienced actor David I. Davies gives readings of 30 soliloquies and scenes from Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Travis Dickerson's resonant music enhances the dramatizations. In addition to all of Hamlet's major soliloquies, Davies does a variety of scenes following the story line of the play and the cast of significant characters. Besides Hamlet, there's Horatio, Polonius, Claudius, and Ophelia. With the sharp expressiveness of Davies' readings, the listener can easily follow the development of the play and the inter-action of the characters.

Davies gives a reading which is true to the original language, yet modern in tone and enunciation. Though the readings are faithful to Shakespeare's language, Davies' pacing and pitch is modern-so the listener follows the dialog as easily as if he or she were listening to persons talking on a TV program, for example. The high technical quality of the recording and the tape also contributes to the favorable listening experience. Because Davies' readings make the play so accessible, "Hamlet One Voice" could be used for classroom or individual student study of the play; although anyone interested in the play or exceptionally controlled and elucidating readings of literature would find this work rewarding.

Henry Berry, reviewer
The Small Press Book Review

This is a brilliant and persuasive contribution to the most written-about play in history. In a study which ranges over comparatively ignored aspects of 'Hamlet' - genealogy, inheritance, land, politics - De Grazia arrives at an authoritative new reading.
She shows how for the past 200 years many aspects of the play that were important to Shakespeare's contemporaries have been buried under the later obsession with interiority: the pensive, dilatory Hamlet of today's tradition. In this later critical evolution, a long procession of thinkers from Coleridge to Freud to Lacan have reinterpreted the play in an ongoing attempt to solve its (apparent)central question: why does Hamlet delay?
But de Grazia shifts the ground convincingly to more pragmatic and earthy concerns. She also shows that because the past two centuries of scholars have seen in 'Hamlet' a yawning question-mark, they have kept the play in the forefront of the modern by filling it with ever-new solutions based on Hamlet's inner conflict.
In 'Hamlet without Hamlet' professor De Grazia, while still honouring the power of these later interpretations, performs the miracle of recovering what they - and modern consciousness - have subsumed. Surely a landmark book.

This really is "The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark" and not only the Prince but his family. Not only his family but his friends. Not only his friends but all though that came before him and is told to those that came after him.

You can take time to scrutinize and pick apart many underlying themes or may of the phrases that now challenge Bible sayings in today's sound bites. But the real fun is in just reading the story and you will find that it is not as foreign as you may have thought.

A quick synopsis is that Old Hamlet conquered Old Fortinbras seizing his land. Now that Old Hamlet is dead, Young Fortinbras wants his land back and is willing to take it by force. Meanwhile back in Dänemark Young Hamlet who is excessively grieving for the loss of his father, gets a now insight from his fathers ghost. Looks like he was a victim of a "murder most foul"; it looks like his mother and uncle were in cahoots on the murder.

The story is about what each person felt and acted or did not act upon the situation.

You will find many movies and perverted imitations of the story but nothing will replace the original scripts that were intended to be watched.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

This is the most readable version of Shakespeare I have encountered, doing full justice to the orignal text with the original alongside

Do you have a hard time understanding Shakepeare? If you do, this is the book for you. I almost always have to have someone explain Shakespeare's work for me. Not with this one. Christopher Andrews wrote this in such a way that anyone can understand. I would highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys Shakespeare, but have a hard time understanding his work.

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespearian play to teach, and this side-by-side version is great! I believe it's important for students of all levels to experience Shakespeare's artistry as well as become familiar with the plots, characters, etc. of the plays, and this edition allows both. The full, original text is there when you want to look at the rhythm, the imagery, etc., but the modern translation helps even brighter students keep a grasp of what they're reading.

Whether you're a student, a teacher, or just someone who loves to read, I think you'll find this side-by-side book fantastic.

This anthology was recommended to me by someone who loved Bloom's huge
book Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human. The recommender hadn't
read it, but thought it would be a celebration of Bloom. It partly is, but mostly
it takes up the controversy over Bloom's role in the literary reception of Shakespeare over the last twenty years. Most of the essays are very readable and enjoyable. Particularly good are essays by Hawkes, Fahmi, Desmet, and Charnes. Linda
Charnes' concluding essay "The Two Percent Solution: what Harold Bloom forgot" is
a knockout, a tour de force on what's wrong, and right, with Bloom, and with literary criticism in general these days. Anyone interested in the controversy over Bloom and the Bard would greatly enjoy reading through the essays in this book.

Bernard Grebanier has taken it upon himself to write, what might be considered, the most interesting and exciting approach to analytical Shakespeare. A must for Hamlet readers. And I'm one of the 'every sort of reader' type. I won't go into how this book came about for Mr. Grebanier you can find that as soon as you start reading. I found it in a used book store for $5 bucks. Highly recommended.

With the original text on the left page, the easy to understand modern text on the right-hand page, this is a can't miss edition. The best of both worlds, his and ours, and Henry IV never fails to deliver.

We all need our Hals and Hotspurs. And, yes, we need our Falstaffs as well.

An exceptional presentation of an exceptional work.