Shakespeare in the Theatre: The National Theatre, 19631975

The National Theatres years at the Old Vic were the most Shakespearean period in its history, one which included Laurence Oliviers Othello and Shylock, a radical all-male As You Like It, the Berliner Ensembles Coriolanus and Tom Stoppards classic offshoot, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead. Drawing extensively upon the company archives, this book tells the interlinked stories of the Nationals relationship with Shakespeare through a series of production case studies. Between them these illuminate Oliviers significance as actor and director, the Nationals pioneering accommodation of European theatre practitioners, and its ways of engaging Shakespeare with the contemporary.