These studies take stage history as a means of knowing the play. Half of the studies deal with casting - doubling, chorus and the crowd, the star of
Hamlet
and
Measure for Measure
. Then the transformations of dramatis personae are analyzed and
The Tempest
is viewed through the changing relationships of Prospero, Ariel and Caliban. Some of Shakespeare’s most original strategies for audience control are studied, such as Cordelia's asides in
King Lear
,
Richard II
’s subversive laughter and the scenic alternation of pleasure and duty in
Henry IV
. Performance is the realization of identity. The book draws on major productions up to 1992, just before the book was originally published.