Shakespeare and Co.

About the book

'Enjoyable, lively ... such a pleasure to read ... renders the drama of Shakespeare's contemporaries more than fringe entertainment' Independent

Shakespeare is one of the greatest of all English figures, considered a genius for all time. Yet as this enthralling book shows, he was at heart a man of the theatre, one among a community of artists in the teeming world of Renaissance London - from the enigmatic spy Christopher Marlowe to the self-aggrandizing Ben Jonson, from the actor Richard Burbage to the brilliant Thomas Middleton. By bringing Shakespeare's contemporaries to life, Shakespeare & Co throws fresh new light on the man himself.

'Warm, cheerful, generous ... Wells sketches a whole gallery of Shakespeare's fellow playwrights ... He...