As You Like It (The New Cambridge Shakespeare)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 2, 9/10/2009
EAN 9780521519748, ISBN10: 0521519748
Hardcover, 258 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Shakespeare’s As You Like It can appear bright or sombre in performance: a feast of language and a delight for comic actors; or a risk-taking exploration of gender roles. This updated edition provides an account of what makes this popular play both innocent and dangerous. There is a section on recent critical, stage and film interpretations of the play, an updated reading list and a new appendix on an early court performance of As You Like It in 1599. Mapping the complexities of the play’s setting – a no man’s land related to both France and England, the edition also includes detailed commentary on its language and an analytical account of performance.
Preface; Introduction: Journeys; Plays within the play; Theatrical genres; Pastoral; Counter-pastoral; The condition of the country; Politics; 'Between you and the women the play may please'; Gender; Nuptials; Sources; Date and occasion; Stage history; Screen versions; Recent critical and stage interpretations: Contexts; Recent stage history; A screen version; Note on the text; List of characters; The Play; Textual analysis; Appendix 1: An early court performance?; Appendix 2: Extracts from Shakespeare's principal source, Lodge's Rosalind; Appendix 3: The songs; Reading list.