From The Royal Shakespeare Company, this edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare combines exemplary textual scholarship with elegant writing and design. Sir Jonathan Bate and Professor Eric Rasmussen, two of today’s most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, lead the expert editorial team. Bate’s excellent general introduction and essays on each play draw on a unique wealth of experience and resources and will help the reader to understand Shakespeare's plays as they were originally intended – as living theatre to be enjoyed and performed.

The text is based on the iconic 1623 First Folio: the first and original Complete Works lovingly assembled by Shakespeare’s fellow actors and the version of Shakespeare’s text preferred by many actors and directors today. The result is a fresh and definitive Complete Works for the twenty-first century that will inspire students, teachers and lovers of Shakespeare everywhere.

* Jargon-free, on-page notes which explain the words or references that are unfamiliar to modern audiences. The editors have spared no blushes and this glossary includes the slang, political references and bawdy humour which have often been either censored or ignored in earlier editions.
* Thought-provoking essays on each play and a superb general introduction by Sir Jonathan Bate;
* A clear, single-column page design, with plenty of space for writing notes;
* Photographs of classic or unusual performances illustrate different interpretations open to actors or directors;
* A key facts 'box' for each play summarizing the plot, major roles, language and sources;
* Chronologies and a genealogy illuminate the relationships between characters;
* The cloth-bound hardback edition features an elegant dust jacket, two red ribbon markers, and is printed on crisp white paper.

Comedies
The Tempest
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Measure for Measure
The Comedy of Errors
Much Ado about Nothing
Love's Labour's Lost
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Taming of the Shrew
All's Well that Ends Well
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
The Winter's Tale

Histories
The Life and Death of King John
The Life and Death of King Richard the Second
The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry surnamed Hotspur
The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing his Death and the Coronation of King Henry the Fifth
The Life of Henry the Fifth
The First Part of Henry the Sixth
The Second Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey
The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Duke of York
The Tragedy of Richard the Third, with the Landing of Earl Richmond and the Battle at Bosworth Field
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth

Tragedies
The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida
The Tragedy of Coriolanus
The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
The Life of Timon of Athens
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
The Tragedy of Macbeth
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The Tragedy of King Lear
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
The Tragedy of Cymbeline

Plays not in the First Folio
Pericles, Prince of Tyre, by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins
The Two Noble Kinsmen, by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher

Poems and Sonnets
Venus and Adonis
The Rape of Lucrece
'Let the bird of loudest lay' (also known as 'The Phoenix and Turtle')
'To the Queen'
Shakespeare's Sonnets
A Scene from Sir Thomas More - (Introduction, transcription and modernized text by Eric Rasmussen)