Orson Welles on Shakespeare: The W.P.A. and Mercury Theatre Playscripts in Bloomington, MN

Orson Welles's theatrical productions of Shakespearean plays for the W.P.A.'s Federal Theatre Project and Welles's own Mercury Theatre represent a unique blending of high art and the politicized popular culture of the 1930s. This volume is the only publication available of the fully annotated playscripts of these adaptations -- the "Voodoo" Macbeth, the modern-dress Julius Caesar, and Welles's compilation of the history plays, Five Kings. Richard France's general introduction provides invaluable background information that relates the three plays and their productions to the contemporary social, historical, political, and economic climate from which they emerged. Additionally, each script is presented with relevant information on the productions, interview material from those on the scene, and Welles's own directorial marginalia.