Shakespeare was a man of the theatre to his core, so it is no surprise that he repeatedly contemplated the nuts and bolts of his craft in his plays and poems. Shakespeare scholar Nick de Somogyi here draws together all the cherishable set pieces – including “All the world's a stage ” Hamlet's encounters with the Players, and Bottom's amateur theatricals – along with many other oblique but no less revealing glances, and further insights into theatre practice by Shakespeare's contemporaries and rivals. De Somogyi's commentary takes us through the entire process of Shakespeare's theatrical production, from its casting and auditions, via rehearsals, costumes, and props, to its premiere and audience reception. Shakespeare on Theatre eavesdrops on the urgently whispered noises-off in the “tiring-house” and inhales the heady aroma of the Globe's first audiences.

シェイクスピアの戯曲に散りばめられた「演劇論」を集成した本作は、俳優の息遣いや観客との熱狂的な共犯関係を鮮烈に描き出します。劇作家自身が虚構をいかに愛し、その不完全さをどう慈しんでいたのか。テキストの隙間から、エリザベス朝の劇場の濃密な空気が、圧倒的なリアリティを伴って立ち上ります。 「世界はすべて一つの舞台」という真理は、今なお私たちの生を鋭く照射します。創作の苦悩と歓喜を追体験させる本書は、巨大な知性の核心へと読者を誘うでしょう。物語を紡ぐことの本質を問う、全表現者と観客に捧げられた魂のバイブルです。