From the Royal Shakespeare Company -- a fresh new edition of Shakespeare's much-loved comedy of the battle between the sexes THIS EDITION INCLUDES: / An illuminating introduction to Much Ado About Nothing by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate / The play - with clear and authoritative explanatory notes on each page / A helpful scene-by-scene analysis and key facts about the play / An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre / A rich exploration of approaches to staging the play featuring photographs of key productions The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This unique edition presents a historical overview of Much Ado About Nothing in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with two leading directors and an actor -- Nicholas Hytner, Marianne Elliott and Harriet Walter -- so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible, a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death. Ideal for students, theatre-goers, actors and general readers, the RSC Shakespeare editions offer an accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare's works for the twenty-first century.