Philip Edwards aims to bring the reader playgoer and director of Hamlet intothe closest possible contact with Shakespeares most famous and most perplexingplay. ... » 

Philip Edwards aims to bring the reader playgoer and director of Hamlet intothe closest possible contact with Shakespeares most famous and most perplexingplay. In his Introduction Edwards considers the possibility that Shakespearemade important alterations to Hamlet as it neared production creatingdifferences between the two early texts quarto and folio. Edwards concentrateson essentials dealing succinctly with the huge volume of commentary andcontroversy which the play has provoked and offering a way forward whichenables us once again to recognise its full tragic energy. For this updatededition Robert Hapgood has added a new section on prevailing critical andperformance approaches to the play. He discusses recent film and stageperformances actors of the Hamlet role as well as directors of the play hisaccount of new scholarship stresses the role of remembering and forgetting inthe play and the impact of feminist and performance studies. «