Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.

The epic tale of Macbeth retold in graphic-novel format. Macbeth and Banquo are Scottish generals returning home from a victorious war campaign. Their journey is interrupted when three strange witches come upon them and predict their futures. They claim that Macbeth will one day become King of Scotland! Macbeth is stirred by the prophesy. With the help of his scheming wife, he sets into motion a sinister plan that will paint bloody strokes across...

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.

The marriage between a duke and Amazon queen sparks a massive celebration, which leads to a congregation of woodland residents, Fairyland creatures and surprising lovers. Set in Athens, A Midsummer Night's Dream follows unsuspecting couples as they fall prey to a supernatural ploy. Four plots simultaneously take place during the wedding preparations for Theseus, the duke of Athens and Hippolyta, the Amazon queen. Four young people, Hermia, Demetrius,...

All's Well That Ends Well (1607) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. All's Well That Ends Well was likely inspired by the tale of Giletta di Narbona from Boccaccio's Decameron. Unpopular during Shakespeare's lifetime, the play remains one of his least staged works to this day. Despite this, scholars praise All's Well That Ends Well for its moral ambiguity. "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together, our virtues would be proud...

Presents William Shakespeare's play in which Timon, plagued with financial difficulties and with no one to help him, takes up residence in a cave where he finds buried treasure. Includes detailed notes on facing pages, historical background, and scholarly essay.

This production is part of a famous series produced by BBC of all of William Shakespeare's plays. The resulting films, renowned for their loyalty to the text, utilized the best theatrical and television directors and brought highly praised performances from leading contemporary actors. In this classic comedy, three plots intertwine: the entangled love affairs of Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia, the comic performance of a "play within a play"...

Believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598, William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" is considered by some critics as one of his "problem plays." The controversy over the work stems from its portrayal of the character Shylock, a rich Jewish moneylender. The stereotypical depiction of Jews as avaricious usurers was common to the drama of the Elizabethan period. The story centers on the love of Bassanio, a young Venetian nobleman, who...

An acclaimed Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company's hit production (also a recent Great Performances production), David Tennant meets fellow actors who've tackled this most iconic of roles, including superstar Jude Law, and compares notes on the role's titanic challenges. Tennant digs deep into the text about the doomed Danish Prince alongside the actors Simon Russell Beale and Ben Whishaw. In this episode: All the world’s a stage, and all the...

An acclaimed Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company's hit production (also a recent Great Performances production), David Tennant meets fellow actors who've tackled this most iconic of roles, including superstar Jude Law, and compares notes on the role's titanic challenges. Tennant digs deep into the text about the doomed Danish Prince alongside the actors Simon Russell Beale and Ben Whishaw. In this episode: An acclaimed Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare...