Much Ado About Nothing: A Critical Reader (Paperback)

Dr. Deborah Cartmell

ISBN 10: 1350126535 / ISBN 13: 9781350126534

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London, 2019

About this Item

Paperback. This volume offers an accessible and thought-provoking guide to this major Shakespearean comedy, surveying its key themes and evolving critical preoccupations. It also provides a detailed and up-to-date history of the plays rich stage and screen performance, looking closely at major contemporary performances, including Josie Rourkes film starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones at the Old Vic, and the RSCs recent rebranding of it as a sequel. Moving through to four new critical essays, the guide opens up fresh perspectives, including contemporary directors deployment of older actors within the lead roles, the plays relationship to Loves Labours Lost, its presence on Youtube and the ways in which tales and ruses in the play belong to a wider concern with varieties of crime.The volume finishes with a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated bibliography provide a basis for further research. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781350126534

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Much Ado About Nothing: A Critical Reader (Paperback)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350126535
• ISBN 13: 9781350126534
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This volume offers an accessible and thought-provoking guide to this major Shakespearean comedy, surveying its key themes and evolving critical preoccupations. It also provides a detailed and up-to-date history of the play's rich stage and screen performance, looking closely at major contemporary performances, including Josie Rourke's film starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones at the Old Vic, and the RSC's recent rebranding of it as a sequel.

Moving through to four new critical essays, the guide opens up fresh perspectives, including contemporary directors' deployment of older actors within the lead roles, the play's relationship to Love's Labour's Lost, its presence on Youtube and the ways in which tales and ruses in the play belong to a wider concern with varieties of crime.

The volume finishes with a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated bibliography provide a basis for further research.

About the Authors

Deborah Cartmell is Professor of English and Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research, at De Montfort University, UK. A founding member of many organisations (including Literature on Screen and the Association of Adaptation Studies), she is Secretary of the Council for College and University English. As well as being general editor of the Screen Adaptations series, in 2010 she authored Screen Adaptations: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (2010).

Lisa Hopkins is Professor of English at University of Sheffield Hallam. She has published numerous works on Shakespeare including her most recent work, Beginning Shakespeare (2005) and has written on film adaptations including Screening the Gothic. She is the Senior Editor of the online journal, Early Modern Literary Studies.

Peter J. Smith is Reader in Renaissance literature, Nottingham Trent University. He is the author of Social Shakespeare; Between Two Stools and co-editor of Hamlet: Theory and Practice. He is a trustee of the British Shakespeare Association. His essays and reviews have appeared in Cahiers Elisabethains, Critical Quarterly, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Bulletin, Shakespeare Survey, Times Higher Education.

Andrew Hiscock is Professor of English at Bangor University, UK.