Includes: * An introduction to Hamlet by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate* The play – with clear explanatory notes on each page* A scene-by-scene analysis* An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre* A rich exploration of approaches to staging Hamlet. The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This book presents a historical overview of Hamlet in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with three leading Directors – Michael Boyd, Ron Daniels and John Caird – so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible - a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death.