The Oxford Shakespeare brings the modern reader closer to Shakespeare's plays as originally performed than has ever before been possible. Based on eight years of full-time research by a team of distinguished British and American scholars, this monumental volume offers many remarkable innovations, including a new chronological order, revised stage directions, two full versions of King Lear--as originally written and as revised later for performance--and the complete text of The Two Noble Kinsmen. The Compact Edition packs all these features into a portable and inexpensive single volume. In addition, a lucid General Introduction by Stanley Wells and brief introductions to each play provide a wealth of background information. Hailed by The Washington Post as "a definitive synthesis of the best editions of recent decades" and by The Times of London as "a monument to Shakespearian scholarship," it is an ideal travel companion on vacations or trips and a perfect gift for literature lovers young and old.