The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide

"Emma Smith's Cambridge Shakespeare Guide is not gives the student or theatregoer a quick fix on the plot, characters and basic facts about each play (or poem); but the book is also a marvel of critical conciseness. So the reader turns to an entry to find out when a particular play was first performed, or what proportion of it is written in verse, or who Borachio or Thersites is...and then finds herself immersed in a subtle yet brief account of the play's themes and famous performers."
--Sarah Stanton, Cambridge University Press Editor