Yet another excellent, ambitious work adapted from Shakespeare by the Shakespeare Restoration Project of the Klingon Language Institute. These guys have already done Hamlet and Gilgamesh, and they're working on the Bible and Macbeth.
Highly recommended for serious students of both Klingon language and William Shakespeare.

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!

This is an academic masterpiece! People enjoy Shakespeare. This helps the reader discover where Shakespeare "stole" his ideas. The entire poem of Romeo and Juliet is in the pages of this book. Shakespeare took an average poem and turned it into a work of art. Anybody interested in Shakespeare will love this book. I only wish I could afford the rest of them.

Northrop Frye is one of the greatest Shakespeare critics of all time (and there have been many). For those who think comedy is a trivial art form, this book will change your mind. Comedy is more serious than tragedy, and Frye illuminates not only Shakespeare's comedies but all comedy. He shows why Shakespeare's comedies are just as important, if not more important, than his tragedies because they pave the way for the romances which are the culmination of Shakespeare's work. The comedies and romances reveal the bounty and plentitude of life, and expose the basic illusions that keep a community from flourishing. They are a celebration of life. Any lover of Shakespeare will be in awe of Frye's admiration for the Bard and the joy he takes in writing about him. No reader can come away from this experience without a deeper appreciation of the greatest writer of all time.

I always thought it was wasteful of English professors to make students buy a Complete Shakespeare when only half of the plays (at most) were studied. "The Necessary Shakespeare" provides a sensible alternative: the 20 most-often studied plays, all the sonnets, and all the critical apparatus you could want. It even has an index to characters, which you don't often see. Highly recommended.

I was lucky enough to find one in a used-book store. I treasure this one-volume behemoth!

If you are at all familiar with Shakespeare's plays, you MUST get this book. Even if you don't particularly care for his work. If you are a teenager being forced to read his work in school, you also should read this--it will not only help you understand the stuff, it will make you laugh your head off.

This is one of the most hilarious books I have ever read--and I'm used to reading the likes of everyone from Tom Robbins and Douglas Adams to Al Franken and Dennis Miller. As a kid, I found a copy of it in my hometown library and over the years would check it out over and over again...while employed at a bookstore I learned that the book was out of print and realized with horror that if anything happened to the one copy at my local branch, I could forget ever reading it again. So the book was copied (not by me, but I have access to it), because I couldn't stand the thought of it being lost. This is not to advocate piracy; this is to advocate the preservation of great works (humour or otherwise).

This book is essentially a summary of most of Shakespeare's most well-known plays (Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth), as well as some of the not-so-well known ones (All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, Measure For Measure). Sadly, not all are summarized, but I so wish that was the case. The writer was an English scholar who explained the plays in a dry, sarcastic, and thoroughly modern manner. If you want a good laugh, I strongly recommend you find this book by any means necessary.

I have many prestigious editions of Shake-speare. While I enjoy them all, I am particularly fond of this volume. It is first and foremost a paragon of scholarship, though I admit that it is perhaps of limited interest to many in some of its aspects. Dealing with the many variants found in the various printings of the First Folio, it might seem rather dry in some respects. Simply put, it is a First Folio made up of facsimile copies of the best pages of all First Folios available, and there are numerous pages dealing with the detective work involved in the assembling of the work. It is perhaps best worked with the Norton Texual Companion to Shakespeare. Yes, it is large,maybe somewhat unwieldy,and the style of type is unusual to read by today's standards, but in the presentation it is a work of art. It is the closest you'll ever get to owning your own first Folio, perhaps a 'better Folio'. I enjoy reading and owning finely made books. This volume, 'The Norton Facsimile', is about as finely made as a book is likely to get. It is beautifully bound and slipcovered in red, and the book in its entirety is a pleasure to own and to use. For those who care for such things, it is also very impressive sitting on a bookshelf.

"Romeo and Juliet" counts as one of the biggest lovestory in the history of literature. It ended tragical, it had to so this love remained innocent and perfect. But what if Juliet had woken up early enough and both hadn't died? This matter is dealt with in Kishons satire "Oh Romeo. A Farce". Setting is Verona 30 years after the story of the couple had started. Romeo and Juliet are upset with their situation. They are depressed by their lives and how their marriage turned out. There seems nothing left of the old romance and passion. Always hearing the two argue terribly Shakespeare shows up to save his play. But he only gets blamed for Romeo's and Juliet's misfortune by them.
Using quotings of Shakespeare's plays(not only Romeo and Juliet) Kishon makes his play more vivid and the characters themselves with the way they behave make the whole scene seem absurd.
Everyone will agree that Romeo and Juliet simply HAD to die not to turn out as described in this story

My daughter gave me the One Page Book of "Hamlet" for Christmas since I teach high school English. I had it mounted on foamboard, framed, and have it hanging in my classroom. My students are so intrigued by it and will stand in front of it reading even though they sometimes complain of having to read Shakespeare from a "book." The personnel at the store that did the framing for me were also impressed with it and wanted to know where they could buy one. I will definitely buy more of these wonderful one-page books!