SIR JONATHAN BATE is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as "the best modern book on Shakespeare." In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'.

ERIC RASMUSSEN is Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama and has edited volumes in both the Arden Shakespeare and Oxford World's Classics series. He is the General Textual Editor of the Internet Shakespeare Editions project - one of the most visited Shakespeare websites in the world. For over nine years he has written the annual review of editions and textual studies for the Shakespeare Survey.

• An exemplary introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream by award-winning scholar Sir 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
• A rich exploration of approaches to staging the play
• Photographs of classic or unusual performances illustrate different interpretations open to actors or directors
• Interviews with directors Michael Boyd, Gregory Doran and Tim Supple
• An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre
• A key facts 'box' summarizing the plot, major roles, language and sources
• A clear, single-column page design
• Recommendations for further reading on key critical approaches and the play in performance, along with recommended viewing

Introduction to the Play
Magical thinking
Metamorphosis
The Festive World
'The poet's eye... the poet's pen'
Introduction to the Text
Key Facts
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Textual Notes
Scene-by-Scene Analysis
A Midsummer Night's Dream in Performance: The RSC and Beyond
Four Centuries of the Dream: An Overview
At the Royal Shakespeare Company
The Director's Cut: Interviews with Michael Boyd, Gregory Doran, Tim Supple
Shakespeare's Career in the Theatre
Shakespeare's Works: A Chronology
Further Reading and Viewing
Acknowledgements and Picture Credits.