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Much Ado About Nothing, comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written probably in 1598-99 and printed in a quarto edition from the author's own manuscript in 1600. The play takes an ancient theme-that of a woman falsely accused of unfaithfulness-to brilliant comedic heights. Shakespeare used as his main source for the Claudio-Hero plot a story from Matteo Bandello's Novelle (1554-73); he also may have consulted Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso...

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...

"Bantam edition with newly edited text and substantially revised, edited, and amplified notes, introductions, and other materials.

A pastoral comedy, William Shakespeare's "As You Like It," is the story of a Duke, who is unjustly deposed by his younger brother Frederick, and flees to the Forest of Arden. The Duke's daughter, Rosalind, remains behind at the court. When it is discovered that Orlando, the youngest son of the deceased Sir Rowland de Boys, has fallen in love with her, Orlando is forced to flee. Rosalind follows after him, with her cousin Celia, to the Forest of Arden...

Based on Plutarch's account of the lives of Brutus, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony, Julius Caesar was the first of Shakespeare's Roman history plays. Presented for the first time in 1599, the play reveals the great dramatist's consummate ability to explore and express the most profound human emotions and instincts. So clearly and urgently does it impact its insights into history and human behavior, Julius Caesar is traditionally among the first of...

The story of a king who craves flattery-and the daughter who refuses him even at the cost of her own inheritance. King Lear wants nothing more than to be praised, and when he decides to divide his realm according to how much each of his daughters can impress him with their declarations of love, Goneril and Regan are quick to oblige. Only the youngest, Cordelia, cannot give him what he wants-and she is promptly cut out of his will. Lear's decision...

A fussy eraser tries to keep the pages perfectly clean despite the scribbles of a mischievous pencil.

A collection of poems featuring a range of subjects, from grandmothers to muzaloos.