Shakespeare, the player

by John Southworth

"Shakespeare the Player completely overturns traditional images of the Bard and his work. It retrieves the so-called 'lost years' of Shakespeare's youth and early manhood, showing that he is likely to have joined Worcester's Men, a group of traveling players, at the age of sixteen. It then follows the young William as he learns his craft and begins work on his own plays. By the time he makes his first impact on literary London he is shown to be an accomplished actor with twelve years experience, not, as generally envisaged, a great dramatist who did some acting on the side. Indeed, Southworth emphasizes that he continued to be a committed actor all his life, spending much of the year on the road right up to his death." "A work of deep scholarship and understanding, Shakespeare the Player presents the Bard and his plays in their proper context for the first time. Ground-breaking and contentious, it will change the way we think about the English language's greatest artist."--Jacket.