Professor Williams focuses on the classical period of German literature and theatre, when Shakespeare's plays were first staged in Germany in a relatively complete form, and when they had a potent influence on the writings of German drama and dramatic criticism.

This is an illustrated history of the performance and reception of Shakespeare's plays on the German stage from the English Comedians in the late sixteenth century to the First World War. Simon Williams argues that the vision of Shakespeare first articulated by critics of Sturm und Drang and romanticism was only realised in practice with the productions of Max Reinhardt in the early twentieth century. The book focuses on the classical period of German literature and theatre, when Shakespeare's plays were first staged in Germany in a relatively complete form, and when they had a potent influence on the writings of German drama and dramatic criticism. Important contributions to the critical reception of Shakespeare in the late eighteenth century are discussed. Professor Williams describes the steady increase in productions of Shakespeare's plays during the nineteenth century, paying attention to textual adaptation, actors' interpretations of leading roles and, in the latter part of the book, to the influence of the rise of the director on Shakespearean performance. A subsequent volume by Wilhelm Hortmann discusses Shakespeare production in Germany from the early twentieth century to the present day.

Shakespeare has been a central figure in German literature and theatre. This book tells the story of Shakespeare in the German-speaking theatre against the background of German culture and politics in the twentieth century. It follows the earlier volume by Simon Williams on the reception of Shakespeare during the previous 300 years (Shakespeare on the German Stage, 1586-1914). Hortmann concentrates on the two most important and fruitful periods: the years of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the turbulent decades of the sixties and seventies, when the German theatre was revitalised by a stormy marriage of avant-garde art and revolutionary politics. A section by Maik Hamburger covers developments in the theatres of the German Democratic Republic. Hortmann focuses on the most representative and colourful directors and actors, describing and illustrating individual productions as examples of particular trends or movements.

This volume looks at Marx and Freud, who, though not 'Shakespeareans' in the usual academic or theatrical sense, were both deeply informed by Shakespeare's writings, and have both had enormous influence on the understanding and reception of Shakespeare. The first section of this volume consists of a discussion of Marx's use of Shakespeare by Crystal Bartolovich followed by an essay on Shakespeareans' recent uses of Marx by Jean E. Howard. The volume's second half, written by David Hillman, juxtaposes a discussion of Freud's use of Shakespeare with a meditation on Shakespeare's 'use' of Freud. Each part can be read fruitfully independently of the others, but the sum is greater than the parts, offering an engagement with two of the most influential thinkers in Western modernity and their interchanges with, arguably, the most influential figure of early modernity: Shakespeare.

This volume, with a foreword by Dennis Kennedy, addresses a range of attitudes to Shakespeare's English history plays in Britain and abroad from the early seventeenth century to the present day. It concentrates on the play texts as well as productions, translations and adaptations of them. The essays explore the multiple points of intersection between the English history they recount and the experience of British and other national cultures, establishing the plays as genres not only relevant to the political and cultural history of Britain but also to the history of nearly every nation worldwide. The plays have had a rich international reception tradition but critics and theatre historians abroad, those practising 'foreign' Shakespeare, have tended to ignore these plays in favour of the comedies and tragedies. By presenting the British and foreign Shakespeare traditions side by side, this volume seeks to promote a more finely integrated world Shakespeare.

This is the third volume to be published in the series Theatre in Europe. This book makes available for the first time an overview of a significant segment of European theatre history and, with few exceptions, none of the documents presented have been published in English before. Gathered from a rich variety of sources, including imperial and municipal edicts, contracts, architectural descriptions, playbills, stage directions and actors' memoirs among others, the book sheds light on one of the most fascinating areas of cultural life in the German- and Dutch-speaking countries. Explanatory passages put these documents into their historical context, and numerous illustrations bring the material even more vividly to life. Also included is the source location for each document and a substantial bibliography.