Shakespeare's World

Name: Shakespeare's World
Price: 39.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9781493091324

Seeing the Plays through Elizabethan Eyes

Dennis Krausnick, Josh Lubarr, Rebecca Goodheart , Tina Packer

$39.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Bloomsbury
25 June 2026

Theatre Studies; Literature, Poetry & Criticism

It goes nearly without saying that Elizabethan England, the society that produced William Shakespeare, was dramatically different than the modern world of today.

This is true not only in the most obvious ways—language, technology, living standards, politics—but in the ideas and beliefs that shaped Elizabethans’ understanding of themselves and the world around them. Just as audiences 400 years from now will need guidance to understand concepts like “the American dream” or “wokeness,” so too does an understanding of the Elizabethan worldview illuminate Shakespeare’s plays in new and surprising ways.

For decades, Dennis Krausnick (1942-2018), a beloved teacher of classical acting, brought Shakespeare’s world and worldview to life for professional actors as Director of Training at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. As part of the company’s world-renowned actor-training program—its “Month-Long Intensive”—Dennis created a full-day immersive experience that helped actors experience, understand, and embody the philosophies and beliefs underlying the Elizabethan world.

A fascinating and readable distillation of the insights developed by Dennis Krausnick and Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare’s World gives performers and directors an engaging tour of the Elizabethan worldview, unpacking such alien concepts as the four elements, the bodily humors, and “the great chain of being.” It includes detailed notes for each Shakespeare play showing how this worldview permeates the text—it will enrich the experience of anyone looking to understand and engage with Shakespeare’s writing in a practical, personal, and active way.

By: Dennis Krausnick, Josh Lubarr, Rebecca Goodheart
Foreword by: Tina Packer
Imprint: Bloomsbury
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781493091324
ISBN 10: 1493091328
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 25 June 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Part I – What is the Elizabethan worldview? Chapter 1 – Introduction Chapter 2 – The universe Chapter 3 – The four elements Chapter 4 – The great chain of being Chapter 5 – The four humors Chapter 6 – Us Chapter 7 – The correspondences Chapter 8: What’s possible Part II: Perspectives, prompts, and provocative questions Epilogue: The Elizabethan worldview on stage and in practice

Dennis Krausnick was a founding member of Shakespeare & Company, based in Lenox, MA. For 25 years, he was its Director of Training. As a master teacher, he taught at countless theater companies and universities, including NYU, Boston University, MIT, Prague Shakespeare Company, and more. As an actor, Dennis’s favorite roles included King Lear, Polonius, and Capulet. He also staged many Shakespeare plays. Dennis passed away in 2018, having spent the last months of his life working on the vision and scope of this book, Shakespeare's World. Josh Lubarr is a writer and editor whose work includes plays and sketch comedy, expert congressional testimony, magazine articles, technical content, and much more. His acting training includes work at Shakespeare & Company, where he also co-directed Hamlet as part of the inaugural Fall Festival of Shakespeare. Rebecca Goodheart, the Executive Artistic Director at Elm Shakespeare Company in New Haven, CT, has directed most of Shakespeare’s plays. Her scholarship has been published in the Journal of the Wooden O and Shakespeare Criticism Online. Rebecca both founded and was Producing Artistic Director for the Maryland Shakespeare Festival.

Reviews for Shakespeare's World: Seeing the Plays through Elizabethan Eyes

In clear prose and with beautiful illustrations, Shakespeare’s World introduces E.M.W. Tillyard’s landmark study, The Elizabethan World View, to a new generation of readers. But this book goes beyond that scholarly reconstruction, turning it into a “how to” guide for the production of Shakespeare. Looking at every play, Shakespeare’s World gives actors, directors, choreographers, musicians, scenographers, and costumers insights into the meaning of the text for early modern audiences, insights that will heighten the pleasure of their own audiences today. More than a loving tribute to the authors’ mentor — the late actor and director Dennis Krausnick, whose work it completes. * Ralph Alan Cohen, Co-Founder of American Shakespeare Center and Emeritus Professor of English at James Madison University *