Shakespeare's Lovers: A Text for Performance and Analysis

Performed successfully during the California Shakespearean Festival in Visalia, this play— woven from Shakespearean scenes, songs, and sonnets—presents “Shakespeare’s universal, enduring, fully human values about love” in a “rich Shakespearean tapestry of romance,” state the authors, Libby Appel and Michael Flachmann.

The play is organized into two acts containing four dramatic sections “Discovering Love,” “Seeking Advice about Love,” “Having Problems with Love,” and “Finding Solutions to Love’s Problems.” To the right of each page of text is a clear, understandable glossary defining difficult words; at the bottom of these pages occasional longer notes explicate obscure or difficult references; each facing left-hand page contains stage directions. This creates a theatrical prompt-book format, leaving plenty of blank space for recording notes, ideas, and stage directions.