This new edition features an updated introduction analysing recent critical and performance interpretations, and a revised reading list.

Much Ado about Nothing has always been popular on the stage. This edition pays especial attention to the history and range of theatrical interpretation, in which famous actors, from the time of Garrick to the present, have appeared as the sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice. A full commentary includes annotation of the many sexual jokes in the play that have been obscured by the complexity of Elizabethan language. In this new edition, Travis D. Williams reviews recent stage, television, film and critical interpretations of the play, considering treatment of the play's special interest in language, bodies and gender.