ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA - New Cambridge Shakespeare Updated Ed.

For this updated edition, David Bevington has included in his introductory section a thorough consideration of recent critical and stage interpretations of Antony and Cleopatra, demonstrating how the theatrical desing and imagination of this play make it one of Shakespeare's most remarkable tragedies. This edition is attentive throughout to the play as theatre: a detailed, illustrated account of the stage history is followed, in the commentary, by discussion of staging options offered by the text. The commentary is especially full and helpful, untangling many obscure words and phrases, illuminating sexual puns, and altering the reader to Shakepeare's shaping of his source material in Plutarch's Lives. This is a scholarly edition, but it's scholarship is not intrusive: it will also satisfy those approaching the play for the first time. An updated reading list completes the edition.