The play behind the play
Subtitle: Hamlet and quarto one
By: Maxwell E. Foster ; edited by Anne Shiras.
Contributors: Shiras, Anne.; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.
Publisher: Heinemann
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Portsmouth, NH
Language: eng
Number of pages: 209
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. -- Criticism, Textual.; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Bibliography -- Quartos.; Hamlet (Legendary character)
Description: The Play Behind The Play is essential reading for anyone interested in producing or understanding Hamlet as it was first presented. Foster takes up in detail the First Quarto, which is reproduced in its entirety, while discussing the early stories that furnished the play's basic plot. He analyzes the First Quarto as a drama, then discusses the complications introduced - most of them unintentionally - by the revisions that lengthened the play.

In the process, readers gain new insight into the play itself, observing the play's evolution as it took shape in Shakespeare's mind.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-198) and index.
Includes a reprint of quarto one from the original 1603 version of Hamlet.