Much Ado about Nothing
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare is a 1999 edition published by Penguin, featuring 98 pages of text in English. This edition presents a freshly edited version of one of Shakespeare’s most delightful comedies, accompanied by an insightful Introduction and commentary by Sheldon P. Zitner. The Introduction focuses on the play’s minor characters and examines Shakespeare’s social transformation of his source material, particularly regarding gender relations and the optimistic view of marriage that permeates the comedy.
Readers will find a thorough analysis that encourages a deeper understanding of the play’s themes and characters. Zitner’s commentary not only clarifies textual and performance issues but also highlights the play’s potential for reinterpretation across generations. This edition serves as a valuable resource for both readers and actors, providing full notes and a socially analytic stage history that enriches the experience of engaging with this classic work of drama.
Official synopsis Publisher
This edition of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, one of Shakespeare’s most delightful and theatrically successful comedies, offers, along with a freshly edited text, an exceptionally helpful and critically aware Introduction and commentary. Paying particular attention in his Introduction to analysis of the play’s minor characters, Sheldon P. Zitner discusses Shakespeare’s social transformation of his source material, rethinking the attitudes to gender relations that underlie the comedy and determine its ruefully optimistic view of marriage. Interpretations are advanced less because they are arguable than because they are actable. Allowing for the play’s openness to re-interpretation by successive generations of readers and performers, the editor provides a socially analytic stage history. Full notes and commentary continue previous editors’ work of clarifying textual and performance problems of interest to both readers and actors.
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