Paul Prescott presents an engaging account of the ways in which theatre critics have responded to Shakespeare over four centuries.

Paul Prescott is Associate Professor of English at the University of Warwick, a Trustee of the British Shakespeare Association and a teaching associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has published widely on theatre history, contemporary performance and creative pedagogy, and is currently completing a short biography of Sam Wanamaker, founder of the Globe. His work has appeared in publications including The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare, The Blackwell Companion to Shakespeare and Performance and Shakespeare Survey. He is the co-founder of wwww.yearofshakespeare.com and www.reviewingshakespeare.com.

1. An introduction to the night-watch constable; 2. Tradition and the individual talent: reviewing the Macbeth actor c.1740s-1890s; 3. New journalism, new critics c.1890-1910; 4. The reviewer in transition c.1920-60; 5. New contexts, new crises (1997-2012): reviewing from the opening of Shakespeare's Globe to the World Shakespeare Festival 2012; Works cited.