Holger Schott Syme is Associate Professor of English at the University of Toronto. His essays have appeared in publications including English Literary Renaissance, Shakespeare Quarterly and Textual Cultures and he is the co-editor of Locating the Queen's Men, 1583–1603: Material Practices and Conditions of Playing (2009). For the third edition of the Norton Shakespeare he is editing Edward III and The Book of Sir Thomas More and is writing an extended essay on the theatre of Shakespeare's time.

• Introduction: the authenticity of mediation; 1. Trial representations: live and scripted testimony in criminal prosecutions; 2. Judicial digest: Edward Coke reads the Essex papers; 3. Performance anxiety: bringing scripts to life in court and on stage; 4. Royal depositions: Richard II, early modern historiography, and the authority of deferral; 5. The reporter's presence: narrative as theatre in The Winter's Tale; Epilogue: the theatre of the twice-told tale; Select bibliography.

'While Shakespeare critics debate the merits of text versus performance, page versus stage, Holger Schott Syme's powerful new study argues for attending the relationship between the two … Syme offers original and unexpected insights into a broad range of dramatic and legal fictions, from comedies and romances to treason trials.' Professor Lorna Hutson, University of St Andrews

Holger Schott Syme is Associate Professor of English at the University of Toronto. His essays have appeared in publications including English Literary Renaissance, Shakespeare Quarterly and Textual Cultures and he is the co-editor of Locating the Queen's Men, 1583–1603: Material Practices and Conditions of Playing (2009). For the third edition of the Norton Shakespeare he is editing Edward III and The Book of Sir Thomas More and is writing an extended essay on the theatre of Shakespeare's time.

• Introduction: the authenticity of mediation; 1. Trial representations: live and scripted testimony in criminal prosecutions; 2. Judicial digest: Edward Coke reads the Essex papers; 3. Performance anxiety: bringing scripts to life in court and on stage; 4. Royal depositions: Richard II, early modern historiography, and the authority of deferral; 5. The reporter's presence: narrative as theatre in The Winter's Tale; Epilogue: the theatre of the twice-told tale; Select bibliography.

'While Shakespeare critics debate the merits of text versus performance, page versus stage, Holger Schott Syme's powerful new study argues for attending the relationship between the two … Syme offers original and unexpected insights into a broad range of dramatic and legal fictions, from comedies and romances to treason trials.' Professor Lorna Hutson, University of St Andrews

Holger Schott Syme is Associate Professor of English at the University of Toronto. His essays have appeared in publications including English Literary Renaissance, Shakespeare Quarterly and Textual Cultures and he is the co-editor of Locating the Queen's Men, 1583–1603: Material Practices and Conditions of Playing (2009). For the third edition of the Norton Shakespeare he is editing Edward III and The Book of Sir Thomas More and is writing an extended essay on the theatre of Shakespeare's time.

• Introduction: the authenticity of mediation; 1. Trial representations: live and scripted testimony in criminal prosecutions; 2. Judicial digest: Edward Coke reads the Essex papers; 3. Performance anxiety: bringing scripts to life in court and on stage; 4. Royal depositions: Richard II, early modern historiography, and the authority of deferral; 5. The reporter's presence: narrative as theatre in The Winter's Tale; Epilogue: the theatre of the twice-told tale; Select bibliography.

'While Shakespeare critics debate the merits of text versus performance, page versus stage, Holger Schott Syme's powerful new study argues for attending the relationship between the two … Syme offers original and unexpected insights into a broad range of dramatic and legal fictions, from comedies and romances to treason trials.' Professor Lorna Hutson, University of St Andrews