The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its
up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features
line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems.
Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical,
stage and screen interpretations. For this second edition of King
Richard III, Janis Lull has added a new section to her introduction, in
which she focuses on contemporary productions of the play as well as
recent scholarly criticism. Lull emphasises the importance of women's
roles in this popular drama but shows how the text has frequently been
cut, rewritten and reshaped by directors and actors to enhance the role
of Richard, often at the expense of female characters. The special
relationship between King Richard III and Macbeth is also explored while
the notes detail the play's language in terms that are easily accessible
to contemporary readers.