Shakespeare's early history plays have come into new prominence following their triumphant revival by the RSC under the title of This England. This new edition of the precursor to Richard III offers a fresh interpretation of the relationship between the two earliest texts - The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (octavo, 1595) and the First Folio Henry VI Part Three (1623) - arguing that the former is a memorially reported and original version of the play later revised for the Folio. The two therefore represent Shakespeare's early and revised conceptions of the play. Unlike all previous editions, the text here is based rigorously on the Folio, with a re-examination of the dates of composition, memorial reporting, and revision.

The introduction provides a useful synopsis of the historical events dramatized by Shakespeare, and appendices present extracts from his two chronicle sources and a detailed analysis of his dramatization of particular passages. The play's stage history and critical interpretations are considered as cultural and artistic responses to its multiply-focused dramatic structure: they are thus integrated, instead of being treated in separated sections on characters and themes, critical fortunes, and stage performance.

The commentary fully explains meanings of archaic words and phrases, identifies historical figures and events in relation to Shakespeare's sources, and illustrates characters and scenes by reference to a variety of modern stage performers and productions in England and the USA - the first edition of the play to do so.

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Randall Martin is a professor in the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick.

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