Troilus and Cressida: A Critical Reader

Troilus and Cressida: A Critical Reader provides an accessible and thought-provoking guide to this complex problem play, surveying its key themes and evolving critical preoccupations, and offering a detailed history of its stage performance. It also provides new perspectives on the plays iconoclastic nature and key themes, including gender and sexuality, Elizabethan politics, antiquity, and cultural translation. The volume finishes with a guide to critical and web-based resources for teaching the play in the classroom, including performance-based strategies, close-reading exercises, and tools for situating the play in classical and critical frameworks.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 10 January 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Troilus and Cressida: A Critical Reader is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to delve into the intricate and complex world of William Shakespeare's renowned play. This comprehensive guide offers a accessible and thought-provoking exploration of the play's key themes and evolving critical preoccupations, making it an essential tool for students, scholars, and theatre enthusiasts alike.

Considering the play's generic ambiguity and experimentalism, the book provides a remarkably detailed and up-to-date history of its stage performances, spanning from Dryden's rewriting to Mark Ravenhill and Elizabeth LeCompte's controversial 2012 production for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Wooster Group. The guide then moves into four new critical essays, offering fresh perspectives on the play's iconoclastic nature and its central themes. These essays cover a wide range of topics, including gender and sexuality, Elizabethan politics, the uses of antiquity, and cultural translation, with a particular focus on Troilus's "Greekness."

The volume concludes with a helpful guide to critical and web-based resources, providing valuable insights into the scholarly and theatrical landscape surrounding Troilus and Cressida. Discussing the challenges of bringing this challenging and acerbic play to life in the classroom, the guide suggests performance-based strategies designed to engage with the dram. These strategies include close-reading exercises focused on rhetoric, metaphor, and the practice of "troping," as well as a series of tools that help situate the play in various contexts, including its classical and critical frameworks.

In summary, Troilus and Cressida: A Critical Reader is a must-have for anyone interested in exploring the rich and complex world of William Shakespeare's plays. With its accessible and insightful approach, this guide provides a valuable resource for students, scholars, and theatre enthusiasts alike, helping them to deepen their understanding and appreciation of this timeless text.

Weight: 408g
Dimension: 137 x 205 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350014190