Since the late Meiji period, Shakespeare has held a central place in Japanese literary culture. This book examines what happened when Shakespeare's works met another tradition which was no less long and sophisticated but almost totally different, both culturally and linguistically. The authors explore and reassess the conditions of Shakespeare's reception and assimilation in Japan. The first part considers the cultural and linguistic problems of translation, focusing on the work of Shoyo Tsubouchi, Tsuneari considers the cultural and linguistic problems of translation, focusing on the work of Shoyo Tsubouchi, Tsuneari Fukuda, and Junji Kinoshita. The second half provides an extensive survey of the most significant Shakespearean productions, adaptations, and interpretations in theatre, film, and literature. Throughout, they provide fascinating examples of how Japanese writers responded to and tried to reinterpret a playwright who belongs to a different culture.

Here, extracts from diaries, memoirs, private letters, obituaries and other rare ephemera are drawn together to build a contemporary account of the acting achievements and personal lives of three inspiring figures from the late 19th-century theatre; Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

During the eighteenth century, theatrical writing developed as a genre. The publishing market responded to a seemingly insatiable appetite for accounts of the personalities, social lives and performances of celebrated entertainers. This series features actors who were significant in their development of new ways of performing Shakespeare.