I won't say I've read all the entire book (I'm leaving King John and Henry VI for some time later)--but I think I've read enough to comment on it. A good edition of Shakespeare, with a general introduction, textual notes, and illustrations (including coloured plates).

Here's my review of Hamlet:
The hero wears black, is a university student, writes poetry, studies philosophy at university. He's got a thing going with Ophelia. Horatio has his back. Following the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother, Hamlet finds himself questioning everything he had formerly believed. When some of his friends tell him they've seen a ghost, he sets out to investigate, with surprising results.

The play has a ghost, madness, melancholy poetry, meditations on suicide, self-reflexivity, radical doubt, political espionage and intrigue, rebellion, graveyard humor, a moment of Zen, a duel.

Shakespeare had a double task here: creating the fascinating mind of the prince, and then constructing a situation equal to testing his hero's estimable capacities. He succeeds at both.

Hamlet is sometimes thought of as the most "modern" of Shakespeare's plays. Among all of Shakespeare's characters, Hamlet is the one who would have been most capable of writing Shakesepeare's plays. I have heard it said that one spectator liked the play because it was "full of quotations."

I've recently re-read Othello, and think that it is one of the most "Jerry Springer-ish" of the dramas.

Other plays I'd recommend in particular:
Romeo and Juliet, The Tragedy of King Richard III,Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, King Henry IV, Part 1, Henry V.

Acquired Apr 20, 1991
Received in an exchange with a friend

I’ve read a second play - King Lear and I will be going to the Theatre on the Round production on Sunday, September 15. Frank Kermode wrote the essay in the RE before the play and he asks why do people see Lear as such an achievement but the play is not as celebrated. He thinks Lear is more celebrated these modern days (a la the 1970s) because we - the heirs of the bomb - can imagine the sort of dystopic finale of Lear in very specific ways. I am not convinced but interesting. Lear interests me because of betrayal, self-delusion, fragility of governance …

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Richard III is what I read from this huge compendium. A teacher gave me this edition when I graduated from high school 44 years ago and so even though I can’t quite capture the one play correctly for a Goodreads entry, I will call out the name of the play in the review.

Watching the 1955 Olivier movie as well. And looking forward to seeing R3 in Chicago in March.

Finished 1984 in December, read Prophet Song this weekend and now a play about that tyrant, that “elvish-marked, abortive rooting hog”, that king who also rules by murdering the children, lovers, family of those who may question his right to establish his absolute power.

…. Somehow it all seems relevant right now.

I was told by a grad school professor that this is the definitive Shakespeare edition for actors. (Does that mean more practical and less scholarly?) I'm sure there are other great editions but I have been very happy with this one!

I realize that it's lazy of me to add this instead of having to think about how the individual plays (I'm in Shakespeare for the plays, not the sonnets) stack up against each other, but I have to add this if for no other reason than that it is one of the very few books in my personal library that has survived every single one of my residential relocations since college, which I think is about 15-20 moves and a total of more than 20,000 miles.

Also, it's a book, right? And a really great one that everyone should own.

Oh yeah, one more thing is that when one of my best friends, Scott H., got married, the magistrate who presided because no preacher was available had this book (not my copy of it, unfortunately) on his pulpit because no Holy Bible was available!

Read six plays for my Shakespeare literature class. "Richard II" was alright - a bit heavy for a first assignment, but not bad. "As You Like It" was plesant, and I really enjoyed it. "Measure for Measure" was another that I was a bit bored with. "The Merchant of Venice" was a bit heavy on the allegory/symbolism, and I was less than impressed. "Hamlet" was fantastic, and I'm glad that it was included on the reading list. "King Lear" was better than some, but worse than others; it was a bit convoluted for my tastes.

Must read classics for every reader. There is truly nothing out there as wonderful as the "Bard of Stratford-on-Avon". How can you possibly beat magnificent works of art like "Othello", "Hamlet", "Macbeth", "King Lear", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and my personal favorite "Julius Caesar"? READ THESE PLAYS PLEASE!! The sonnets are wonderful as well.

Did this course with Mr. Blistein at Brown in the mid 1970's. We covered it all, although I think I slept through a few of the histories...

Ok, so I haven't read EVERY play, but I'm working on it. Much Ado, Winter's Tale, R & J, and Hamlet all stand out as favorites. If you want to read Shakespeare, Riverside is a great way to do it--most of the discussions of the plays are quite good and you can brush up on the history of his life and theatre in the time period as well.

Since I won this book at an annual Shakeseare Acting Competition it means alot to me. I heard it was a valuable book. It was a great honor to be awarded best shakespearean actress amoung so many different school of actresses. Two years in a row too. The second year I think I donated the book to the school library...not sure. I forgot now. I do knwo I donated it cause I never got it...didnt want two.

Its great for photcopying entire plays since the print is so small.

The undergrad English major's albatross, I will forever appreciate how important the Riverside Shakespeare (I still have the edition with the brown cover) has been to my education. It's rare that a week goes by without my using it in reference to something that has little to do with literature. Then there are those times I am able to sit down and reread a favorite play...

Finished Much Ado about Nothing and am looking forward to seeing it performed under the central PA stars tonight!

Plays read:

A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
All's Well That Ends Well
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
The First Part of Henry the Fourth
The Second Part of Henry the Fourth
The Life of Henry the Fifth
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The Tempest
The Comedy of Errors