A collection of newly commissioned essays on Macbeth, designed to showcase current debates and ideas surrounding the play from a range of international scholars. Key themes and approaches covered include The Text, History and Topicality, Current Critical perspectives and Adaptation and Afterlife.

INTRODUCTION Ann Thompson (King's College London, UK) THE TEXT AND ITS STATUS Notes and Queries Concerning the Text of Macbeth Anthony B. Dawson (University of British Columbia, USA) Dwelling ‘in doubtful joy’: Macbeth and the Aesthetics of Disappointment Brett Gamboa (Dartmouth College, USA) HISTORY AND TOPICALITY Politic Bodies in Macbeth Dermot Cavanagh (University of Edinburgh, UK) ‘To crown my thoughts with acts’: Prophecy and Prescription in Macbeth Debapriya Sarkar (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Canada) Lady Macbeth, First Ladies and the Arab Spring: The Performance of Power on the Twenty-First Century Stage Kevin A. Quarmby (Oxford College of Emory University, Atlanta, USA) CRITICAL APPROACHES AND CLOSE READING ‘A walking shadow’: Place, Perception and Disorientation in Macbeth Darlene Farabee (University of South Dakota) Cookery and Witchcraft in Macbeth Geraldo U. de Sousa (University of Kansas, USA) The Language of Macbeth Jonathan Hope (Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK) and Michael Witmore (Folger Shakespeare library, Washington DC, USA) ADAPTATION AND AFTERLIFE The Shapes of Macbeth: The Staged Text Sandra Clark (Birkbeck, University of London, UK) Raising the Violence while Lowering the Stakes: Geoffrey Wright’s Screen Adaptation of Macbeth Philippa Sheppard (University of Toronto, Canada) The Butcher and the Text: Adaptation, Theatricality and the ‘Shakespea(Re)-Told’ Macbeth Ramona Wray (Queen’s University, Belfast, UK)

A collection of newly commissioned essays on Macbeth, designed to showcase current debates and ideas surrounding the play from a range of international scholars. Key themes and approaches covered include The Text, History and Topicality, Current Critical perspectives and Adaptation and Afterlife.

Each volume in the series is an expedition to discover the ‘state of play’ with respect to Shakespeare’s major plays. Featuring ten or more newly commissioned essays written by world-class Shakespeareans, each volume presents a detailed engagement with a single play, focusing on current issues in teaching, performance and research.