The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Hardcover)

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Review
"'This new Complete Works from the RSC is a glorious edition of one of the world's most important books. It's the essential reference book for anyone who's ever been in love, felt jealousy, fear, hatred, or desire. All human life is here - and every home should have one.' - Dame Judi Dench 'Timely original and beautifully conceived the RSC edition makes Shakespeare's extraordinary winning author of 1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare 'Bate provides excellent introductory essays to each play and his terrific introduction, simply and effectively summarising everything you need to know about Shakespeare, man and work, is alone worth buying the edition for.' - The Daily Express 'Thanks to Bate and Rasmussen, we now have a rendering of the Complete Works that, in a rare publishing achievement, would also give complete satisfaction to the author himself.' - Robert McCrum, The Observer 'A magnificent new volume.' - A. N. Wilson, The Daily Telegraph 'This outstanding new edition of Shakespeare's plays is ew and thoroughly radical... supervised by Jonathan Bate, an outstanding scholar who writes with as much elegance as insight about the making of theatre and the creation of the plays... an impeccably informative introduction gives a comprehensive theatrical, social, political and biographical context to the plays. There are pithy essays, also by Bate, to introduce each play as well as exemplary notes at the foot of each page which translate verbal and topical obscurities... for any curious reader of Shakespeare's plays it provides an invaluable guide to reading them not as novels or dramatic poems, but as they were intended to be read: blueprints for live performance.' - Richard Eyre, The Sunday Telegraph 'Excellent, succinct notes and introductions to each play.'- John Carey, The Sunday Times 'A splendid edition. The general introduction is among the best 50-page guides to Shakespeare you could hope to find, while the short essays prefixed to each play are like the best kind of programme notes - informative, thought-provoking and humane. Marginal notes help readers imagine what's happening onstage... The RSC's edition tells you all you need to know about the life, but also, vitally, allows you to lose yourself in the wonder of the works.' - Dr Colin Burrow, All Souls College, Oxford University, writing in The Evening Standard 'The paper quality and page design are excellent, and the illustrations in the introductory materials are lavish and well reproduced... Bate's general introduction to Shakespeare's life, stage and reputation is superb, and the short introductions to individual works, in particular, are among the best of their kind available...they manage to speak about what really matters about the plays to readers who wish, whether they are already familiar with them or not, to come to them freshly.' - Professor Michael Dobson, writing in The London Review of Books"

Fiona Shaw, The Times
'A triumphant addition to our times.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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17 Reviews 5 star:  (12) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.5 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   83 of 84 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The most complete 'complete', and the best., 28 Nov 2007 By  Sable Unadorned - See all my reviews It's easy to pick up a copy of 'The complete works of Shakespeare' from any bookshop; many are less than a tenner. So why pay more for this one? Well, let's start with the overall look and feel of the book. In size and construction it feels more like something that could ask about twice the price and feel worthwhile (and no, that page count isn't a misprint). Fair enough - as one who lives just outside Stratford, I can tell you that Shakespeare is big business in the town, and one could hardly imagine the RSC being prepared to put their name to anything less than the best. But the real story is inside. It would have been very easy to produce 'just another' complete works with a fancy binding and nothing special on the inside, but that hasn't happened here. As well as the complete text, the book includes a long review of each play placing it in historical and dramatic context. In addition to that there are extensive notes on each page, explaining the more abstruse language and adding explanations of historical or plot points. This means that the plays can be read as literature - not always easy if one only has the basic text, or if one has to keep flipping to the back for a list of notes. Plus, as you'd expect, the poems and sonnets are given just as thorough a treatment. All in all, I'd give it more than five stars if I could. It's a gorgeous book, both to look at and to read, and should be part of the collection of anyone who's ever enjoyed, or thought they might enjoy, Shakespeare. Possibly the only Shakepeare volume you'll ever need? Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   125 of 129 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the price tag!, 4 May 2007 By  O. Mawdsley "feste_thejester" (London UK) - See all my reviews I have never found a complete works like it before. I don't know if I can put it into words, but i'll try... 1) This is the only complete works I've ever seen to have notes on the text writen ON THE PAGE. One of my pet hates about reading complete works was that if there was an obscure phrase, you used to have to go online or find another edition of it, which interupted the pleasure of reading. No more! It's an absolute joy to read, and so sumptuously laid out. 2) It's totally edited from the first folio. Not only that, it's edited by the RSC. Now, you may say why is that so important? Well, Shakespeare wrote for actors, not for literary analysis by ancient professors, and shakespeare used certain devices in his writing to help out his actors. The first folio is closest to what we have as Shakespeare's own words. This means it's the best copy to read from be you acting or writing an essay, or simpl reading for pleasure. 3) The sprinkles and jelly tots on top of the cake are the essays at the start of each play (which stimulate the mind... they're not breathtaking, but interesting at least), the pictures from the RSC archive, an introduction to the life and times of Shakespeare, and access to a website with extra resource materail for whatever your fancy. If you want to buy a Complete Works of Shakespeare, this HAS to be the one. It's worth every penny, and will last you for life! It's the best out there! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   20 of 20 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Best ever edition, 16 April 2008 By  Alixayd (London, England) - See all my reviews Every play and poem in one book with footnotes at the bottom so you can understand what virtually every word means. There's also great introductions to each play so you get some background information on the characters, so you feel the emotion because you feel where every character is coming from when they say certain lines. People usually avoid reading Shakespeare because they think its just some esoteric babble that got forced on them at school as a form of torture, but what the RSC do is they make it accessible, so much Kudos to them. I have to agree with Dame Judi Dench's review that every household should have this book because its absolutely brilliant. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 17 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars At last my ideal complete works I have always loved Shakespeare's works and ended up buying the Oxford Complete Shakespeare. It ended up languishing on my bookshelf due to the difficult and uninsnpiring layout... Read more Published 1 month ago by Matthew L. J. Bodycombe 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Complete Works Comprehensive with clear text, which is a good size and no columns. Great Royal Shakespeare Company photos and useful introductory essays by Jonathan Bate; eminent Shakespeare... Read more Published 2 months ago by Mrs. N. Davies 5.0 out of 5 stars Don't worry about the paper... this is close to perfect? I can't praise this version too much. A delight to read with fabulous introductions and summaries (not too much or too little). Read more Published 2 months ago by D. Beaver 4.0 out of 5 stars All you need I bought this as our original Shakespeare got mislaid in a move - you might say Love's Labours Lost! Read more Published 3 months ago by P Doff 5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful footnotes I'm a beginner to Shakespeare and I'm finding the detailed footnotes extremely helpful. I recommend it highly. Published 3 months ago by JH 2.0 out of 5 stars Weak although this book is a great collection of the complete works, i was very disapointed at the quality of the paper, felt like it would rip by just turning the page. Read more Published 4 months ago by S. Abdullahi 4.0 out of 5 stars Yet More Shakespeare This was bought as a Christmas Present - by me - to be given to me! I had read all the reviews, especially AN Wilson's, and decided to try again with a single Volume... Read more Published 4 months ago by Ronald Ellis 3.0 out of 5 stars Great, but flawed I don't want to rain on the parade, but, while this is a truly great book because of its content, the production of the book is flawed enough to be problematic. Read more Published 8 months ago by Kirk McElhearn 5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book This is a gorgeous book to hold. The print quality is just right, and the all time master of the English language shines through. Read more Published 9 months ago by JC 5.0 out of 5 stars All the world and more is here In his foreword to this magnificent edition, Michael Boyd reminds us that Shakespeare's plays were originally scripts for companies of actors and "not written as literature" to be... Read more Published 10 months ago by Sphex Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 17 customer reviews...

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