The RSC Complete Works
This edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare was developed in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. The text is based on the 1623 First Folio and it aims at presenting the plays as they were to be enjoyed and performed on stage. The second edition extensive general introduction is written by Jonathan Bate, who opens it with a reference to the 400 years of the publication of the First Folio. The Foreword is written by Gregory Doran, now Emeritus Artistic Director of the RSC.
This is a visually stunning edition that includes colour images from a range of RSC productions, including the now iconic image of David Tennant holding the skull in the 2008 production of Hamlet, directed by Gregory Doran.
The edition follows the Folio organization by using the traditional grouping of the plays into comedies, histories, and tragedies, but also includes in - a separate section - the collaborative plays not published in F1: Pericles, the Price of Tyre and The Two Noble Kinsmen. The second edition expands on the poems and sonnets by adding The Passionate Pilgrim and A Lover's Complaint.
The text of each play is preceded by an introduction and a box that highlights key facts on the text and specific RSC productions. In a departure from the traditional printing of the plays in double columns, this edition brings the text in single column-with production notes on the margins of the page as well as footnotes. The edition closes with a conjectural chronology of Shakespeare’s works.
