"The today of any stage production, any actor, any theatre even, is very short indeed, and the today of Shakespeare immortally long". So writes Margaret Webster in the first chapter of her witty and sparkling book about Shakespeare as "theatre". 

          She is the daughter of Dame May Witty and Ben Webster, and after appearing with the Ben Greet and Old Vic companies in this country she went to the USA. In 1937 she directed the Maurice Evans Richard II, a smash hit on Broadway, which she followed with Henry IV, the uncut Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Othello, The Tempest, Henry VIII, and Richard III. Her own Shakespeare-on-Wheels company, 1948-50, travelled over 60000 miles, playing in forty-four states. She has recently successfully staged The Merchant of Venice at the Stratford Memorial Theatre.

          Her wide and varied experience in both countries, and her innate love and understanding of Shakespeare, have equipped her to write this book, which is based on practical knowledge of the theatre and lit by imagination and humour – a book which will deepen the reader’s appreciation of Shakespeare, both as dramatist and poet, and which will be found as fresh and stimulating as anything that has been written about Shakespeare during this century.