In an effort to bridge the gap between Shakespeare scholarship and theatrical practice, Cohen uses close reading and experience gained from his acclaimed theatrical career to help us understand how Shakespeare wanted his plays to be produced and performed. Cohen's book is mostly in alignment with other books on the same topic, most notably John Barton's influential 1984 book Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide, but there are notable, seemingly purposeful, differences between the two books. Whereas Barton holds that Hamlet's Act III ‘Speak the speech’ lecture to the players is ‘the best guide to an actor’ (p. 4), Cohen's first chapter opens with the directly opposite view, under the audacious subheading ‘Shakespeare's Acting Theory: What It Is NOT’. Whereas Barton finds that locating the metre of Shakespeare's verse is instrumental to performing it, Cohen argues that Shakespeare's ‘verse was simply a major format of his era’ (p. 16). Because of differences like this, there are enough new and exciting ideas here to separate Cohen's book from the herd.

The volume opens with a historical introduction to William Shakespeare and his theatrical world, which will be appreciated by theatre artists and scholars who are approaching Shakespearean drama for the first time. For the veteran Shakespearean, Cohen's introduction reinforces that Shakespeare was a playwright/director/producer/actor (Chapter 2 adds stage designer to this list) whose drama was frequently either about theatre or involved characters play-acting. Chapter 1, ‘Shakespeare on Acting’, is the heart of the book. Arguing that the real key to Shakespeare's theory of acting comes not from Hamlet's ‘Speak the speech’ (III, ii), but from his earlier ‘O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!’ (II, ii) soliloquy, Cohen runs a clever, extended close reading of that speech. He finds that Shakespearean acting is not to be handled ‘trippingly’ (p. 14), but is instead messy and, to use Hamlet's word, ‘monstrous’ (p. 21). Cohen affirms that Shakespearean actors should be pulled by ‘cause’ instead of being pushed by ‘motive’ and that they should cry real tears when it is called for (p. 35). In this way, Shakespeare's dialogue predicts naturalistic acting techniques while retaining the heightened reality that blank verse helps to create. Chapter 2, ‘Shakespeare on Staging’, briefly establishes Shakespeare as being highly conscious of set design, as is evidenced by the theatrical practices of characters such Peter Quince, Macbeth and others. For Cohen, Shakespearean set design embraces artificiality and thereby functions the same way that actors do, as ‘deliberately meaningful representations’ (p. 65). The focus of Chapter 3, ‘Shakespeare and His Audience’, is the communal quality of live Shakespeare. Instead of passively sitting in the dark, Shakespeare's audiences were engaged by broad daylight as well as direct interaction with the people onstage through ‘prologues, epilogues, asides, apostrophes, soliloquies, [and] direct address’ (p. 102). Cohen carefully explains each of these techniques and even offers innovative acting exercises from his own accomplished directorial playbook. Shakespeare on Theatre concludes with an ‘Epilogue’ that praises the Bard and his company of actors, an appendix that reprints Cohen's 1973 essay ‘Shakespeare's Sixteen-Year-Old Hamlet’, and a vital bibliography that reads like a Who's Who of Shakespeare scholarship.

Shakespeare on Theatre is a valuable contribution to Shakespeare studies. In addition to its fusion of Shakespeare scholarship and theatrical practice, Cohen offers refreshing philosophical approaches to Shakespearean production and performance. Shakespearean actors looking for more specific techniques should turn to Cohen's acclaimed book Acting in Shakespeare (1991, revised and expanded 2005). Cohen's usage of subheadings is somewhat erratic and confusing, but this is a minor quibble. This book would be an important addition to any university library and would assist scholars of any level writing on Shakespearean theatrical practice. For theatre artists, Cohen's generous offerings from his own experience make this book invaluable.