Aspects of Shakespeare's 'Problem Plays'
Articles reprinted from Shakespeare Survey

This book is designed as a stimulating introduction to Shakespeare's 'problem plays' and to conflicting interpretations of them.

Kenneth Muir (Edited by), Stanley Wells (Edited by)

9780521283717, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 February 1982

164 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.9 cm, 0.25 kg

These articles, reprinted from various volumes of Shakespeare Survey, concern three plays which have gradually become appreciated by critics and in the theatre. Since the early years of this century they have been seen as an interrelated group, with a peculiarly twentieth-century appeal. Measure for Measure, concerned as it is with adolescents' first encounters with sex, love and death, has a special appeal for young people; Troilus and Cressida, set in the Trojan War, has been found deeply relevant to our own war-troubled times; and All's Well That Ends Well, sharing these preoccupations, is a necessary companion piece. John Barton, who has directed all three plays, is interviewed in one of the articles, which together illustrate the often heated controversy about the plays. Reviews and photographs of post-war productions at Stratford are also included. The book as a whole is designed as a stimulating introduction to these plays and to conflicting interpretations of them.

List of plates
Preface
Directing problem plays John Barton and Gareth Lloyd Evans
All's Well That Ends Well Nicholas Brooke
The design of All's Well That Ends Well R. L. Smallwood
Why does it end well? Helena, Bertram and the Sonnets Roger Warren
The Renaissance background of Measure for Measure Elizabeth Pope
The unfolding of Measure for Measure James Black
'The devil's party': Virtue and vices in Measure for Measure Harriet Hawkins
Troilus and Cressida Kenneth Muir
'Sons and daughters of the game': An essay on Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida R. A. Yoder
The problem plays, 1920–1970: A retrospect Michael Jamieson
Reviews.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]