Shakespeare's Professional Career

Shakespeare's career as actor and playwright reveals the extraordinary accommodation of his genius to the circumstances of his time. This unique account describes Shakespeare at work against a background of theatrical rivalry, opportunism, service to noble patrons, and political intrigue. Thomson recreates Shakespeare's writing career year by year, showing how the plays mirror their times. This account of Elizabethan and Jacobean social and professional life offers a fascinating insight into the world in which Shakespeare produced his plays. This book offers forty more illustrations than the previous Canto paperback edition.