'Jonathan Bate writes with as much elegance as insight about the making of theatre and the creation of the plays.'

'Jonathan Bate writes with as much elegance as insight about the making of theatre and the creation of the plays.'

• Richard Eyre, Sunday Telegraph

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a fresh new edition of Shakespeare's gripping political and personal tragedy

THIS EDITION INCLUDES: • An illuminating introduction to Coriolanus by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate• The play - with clear and authoritative explanatory notes on each page• A helpful scene-by-scene analysis and key facts about the play• An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre• A rich exploration of approaches to staging the play featuring photographs of key productions

The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This unique edition presents a historical overview of Coriolanus in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with two leading directors – Gregory Doran and David Farr – so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible, a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death.

Ideal for students, theatre-goers, actors and general readers, the RSC Shakespeare plays offer an accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare's works for the twenty-first century.