Double Falsehood
Third Series
William Shakespeare author Brean Hammond editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:1st Mar '10
Should be back in stock very soon
A major new scholarly edition and the only fully annotated one available The play is of growing interest to scholars and students, as demonstrated by two recent conferences in New Zealand and USA The RSC are planning a production in late 2010
First performed in 1727, Cardenio or Double Falsehood was based on a play originally written by William Shakespeare. This significant new edition traces the elements of his work to be found in the text we have today, opening up fascinating questions and ideas for all students of Shakespeare.On December 1727 an intriguing play called Double Falshood; Or, The Distrest Lovers was presented for production by Lewis Theobald, who had it published in January 1728 after a successful run at the TheatreRoyal, Drury Lane, London. The title page to the published version claims that the play was 'Written Originally by W.SHAKESPEARE'. Double Falsehood's plot is a version of the story of Cardenio found in Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605) as translated by Thomas Shelton, published in 1612 though in circulation earlier. Documentary records testify to the existence of a play, certainly performed in 1613, by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, probably entitled The History of Cardenio and presumed to have been lost. The audience in 1727 would certainly have recognised stage situations and dramatic structures and patterns reminiscent of those in Shakespeare's canonical plays as well as many linguistic echoes. This intriguing complex textual and performance history is thoroughly explored and debated in this fully annotated edition, including the views of other major Shakespeare scholars. The illustrated introduction provides a comprehensive overview of the debates and opinions surrounding the play and the text is fully annotated with detailed commentary notes as in any Arden edition.
‘The publication of Theobald's adaptation in the Arden Shakespeare series is to be welcomed.' * Jonathan Bate, Daily Telegraph *
‘For most of the three centuries since its debut, Double Falsehood; or, the Distrest Lovers has been ridiculed as a hoax or just disregarded. Yesterday that changed when The Arden Shakespeare, one of the best regarded scholarly editions of Shakespeare's plays, published Double Falsehood, endorsing its credentials and making it available for the first time in 250 years.' * The Times *
‘The play's ‘bardic provenance' has been given fresh credibility by publishers Arden, who have included it in a new series of Shakespeare's work. The publication of the play, which is bound to spark heated scholarly discussion, comes after a ten year mission to crack a literary mystery by Professor Brean Hammond, of Nottingham University.' * Daily Mail *
‘Professor Brean Hammond will publish compelling new evidence next week that the play is.. substantially based on a real Shakespeare play called Cardenio. Hammond has been backed in his assertion by the Shakespeare published Arden...' * The Guardian *
‘This week, British publishers Arden Shakespeare published the play for the first time in 250 years with evidence Hammond has gathered over the past decade that shows Shakespeare's hand in the work, which was co-written by John Fletcher.' * CNN.com *
‘Play, possibly reworked from Shakespeare, is added to a literary collection:: A play from the 1700s contains reworked material of Shakespeare's has gained a qualified endorsement from the Arden Shakespeare, a scholarly anthology of that playwright's work.' * New York Times *
'...a thorough and judicious account of the relevant scholarship....Brean Hammond's excellent edition is indispensable.' * Times Literary Supplement (May 2010) *
'The play was recently published by the Arden Shakespeare, for the first time in 250 years, with evidence Prof Hammond has gathered over the past decade that shows Shakespeare's hand in the work.' * Birmingham Post (July 2010) *
'It is brilliant and unusual; the Bard's style and influence seemed irrefutable...even though there is a darker twist to the dialogue and plot than one might expect from him immediately.' * The Observer (January 2011) *
ISBN: 9781903436776
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 21mm
Weight: 512g
464 pages