BRIDGET ESCOLME Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. Her publications include Talking to the Audience: Shakespeare, Performance, Self and Antony and Cleopatra in the Palgrave Shakespeare Handbooks series. She has worked as a performer and a dramaturge in the UK and USA.STUART HAMPTON-REEVES Professor of Research-informed Teaching at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He is the author of Shakespeare in Performance: the Henry VI Plays, Shakespeare's Histories and Counter-Histories and Measure for Measure in the Shakespeare Handbooks series. He was Performance Editor for the journal Shakespeare from 2004-7 and is currently Treasurer of the British Shakespeare Association.

• Preface;  B.Escolme  &  S.Hampton-ReevesTextual Clues and Performance Choices;  M.J.KidnieOpenings;  P.HollandEntrances & Exits;  R.ConkieEndings;  P.PrescottVisual Scores;  C.CarsonProps;  F.Karim-CooperTalking Heads; C.Chillington RutterCostume;  B.EscolmeFighting;  S.Hampton-ReevesAudiences;  S.WernerSound;  P.A.SkantzeSilence;  R.ShaughnessyAfterword;  J.R.BrownBibliographyIndex.

'Twelve contributed essays and afterword by John Russell Brown add up to a remarkably coherent and useful treatment of multiple aspects of theater art in Shakespeare's plays and specific productions. All of the contributors are apparently avid theatergoers with elevated powers of observation and analysis. Seven photographs, an excellent bibliography, and separate indexes to the plays and productions enhance the book's appeal for a range of audiences. Highly recommended reading.' - Choice 'The editors have assembled a formidable team of world-class experts, whose command of the field, after decades of thinking, is so confident that they can present truly original ideas about the most basic issues - how does a play begin, how many doors does the play require, what costumes should be worn? This maturity makes for lucid, relaxed, and accessible reading ... it will be recommended reading in performance studies for years to come.' - Richard Wilson, Professor of Shakespeare Studies, Kingston University, UK