• Part 1 The Company; Chapter 1 The Lord Chamberlain’s Servants; Chapter 2 Balancing the Books; Chapter 3 ::; Chapter 4 The Globe Plays; Part 2 The Plays; Chapter 5 Twelfth Night and Playhouse Practice; Chapter 6 Hamlet and The Actor in Shakespeare’s Theatre; Chapter 7 Macbeth from the Tiring House; Chapter 8 Two Playhouses;

`This is a model introduction to the formation, structure and development of the Lord Chamberlain's Men which is utilized to provide instructive critical readings of Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Hamlet.' - Years Work in English StudiesReviews of the First Edition`Valuable and enjoyable reading for all studying Shakespeare's plays.' - Times Higher Education Supplement`Following in the pattern established by John Russell Brown for the excellent series (Theatre and Production Studies), he provides first an account of Shakespeare's company, then a study of three individual plays Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Macbeth as performed by the company. Peter Thomson writes in a crisp, sharp, enlivening style.' - Times Literary Supplement`... the best analysis yet of Elizabethan acting practices, excavated from the texts themselves rather than reconstructed on basis of one monolithic theory, and an essay on Hamlet that is a model of critical intelligence and theatrical invention.' - Yearbook of English Studies`Synthesizes the important facts and summarizes projects with a vigorous prose style, and expertly applies his experience in both practical drama and academic teaching to his discussion.' - Review of English Studies