After discovering the double identity of the wealthy Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula, a small group of people vow to rid the world of the evil vampire. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...

Performed as early as 1611 and published in the "First Folio" in 1623, Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" weaves an elaborate tale of palatial envy and power in Ancient Britain. Cymbeline, King of Britain, commands that his lovely young daughter Imogen marry Cloten, the violent and callous son of the current Queen by her former husband. With her heart already promised to the poor yet heroic Posthumus, Imogen refuses. Disgusted at the prospect of his daughter...

The Tempest is a comedy that was written by William Shakespeare. The action centers around a sorcerer named Prospero, who is the rightful Duke of Milan, as he plans to restore his daughter's place in society through manipulation. Though The Tempest was listed as a comedy in Shakespeare's First Folio it is now often considered to be a tragicomedy. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is a delightful comic love story. The play begins with a shipwreck,...

The place is London, and the time is the late 1800s. Mr. Verloc appears to be an unassuming owner of a bric-a-brac store, but he’s actually a spy for an unnamed country. When he’s summoned by his superiors and ordered to plant a bomb to foment unrest in English politics and society, he finds himself stuck in a more-than-uncomfortable situation.

Conrad’s novel is set against the background of the Greenwich Observatory bombing, in

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The Merchant of Venice is one of the ten most popular titles from the best-selling Cambridge School Shakespeare series now available in a new edition. The new edition includes new and revised activities throughout, new black and white photos from the widest selection of stage and film interpretations of the plays, and a larger glossary providing extra support with the language of Shakespeare. In addition, expanded sections on characters, language,...

The New Folger Library edition of Shakespeare's plays puts readers in touch with current ways of thinking about Shakespeare. Each volume contains full explanatory notes on pages facing the text of the play and a helpful introduction to Shakespeare's language. At the conclusion of each play is a full essay by a scholar who assesses the play in the light of today's interests and concerns.

During one of his several adventurous voyages in the 1600s, an Englishman becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck and lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

Shakespeare's classic comedy depicting the romantic struggles of Rosalind and Orlando is accompanied by scene-by-scene analysis, text, plot, characters, and staging of the play

"For this updated critical edition of Romeo and Juliet, Hester Lees-Jeffries has written a completely new Introduction. It draws on recent research in theatre to set Romeo and Juliet in its mid-1590s context,making connections with other plays by Shakespeare and other literature of the period, as well as with the social and cultural contexts of the day, with discussions of London and Italy; dancing and duelling; marriage, gender and sexuality. It...