The Secret of Shakespeare

Martin Lings clarifies the essential greatness of Shakespeare by focussing our attention on the total impact his best plays make on us when acted. For this purpose he concentrates on the texts and their theatrical rendering, in such a way as to transmit to us, at the same time, a powerful impression of Shakespeare the man, such as perhaps no other book can give us. For the second edition the chapters on Macbeth and The Tempest were rewritten to more than twice their original length; and now, for this third edition, the same has been done for the chapters of Hamlet, King Lear and The Winter's Tale, as well as for the 'Notes on Performance and Production', with additions to other chapters also. The Foreword to third edition was written by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.