An intensely practical account of the way Hamlet actually works on stage.

Writing with the benefit of inside experience of many productions, actor and director Michael Pennington takes us through Hamlet scene by scene, and character by character. He also gives a personal account of his own encounters with the play, and of its staging through the ages.

'A wonderful book' Ronald Harwood

'Racy, vivid, well informed, and continuously entertaining' Stanley Wells

'An insider's guide par excellence' Simon Callow

'It is his range of knowledge - along with a gift for writing clearly and memorably - that makes him such a fine guide'- Times Literary Supplement