Love's Labour's Lost

Four lovers, a troupe of amateur actors and a quarrelling fairy court collide in a wood outside Athens. The most performed of the comedies and a common first Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare

A deposed duke uses magic to shipwreck his enemies on his island. Widely read as Shakespeare's farewell to the stage.

William Shakespeare

A shipwrecked woman disguises herself as a man and sets off a chain of mistaken identities and misdirected love. One of the most popular comedies and previously missing from this collection.

William Shakespeare

A merchant borrows against a pound of his own flesh and ends up in a courtroom that has been argued over ever since. A comedy with an uncomfortable centre.

William Shakespeare

Two sharp tongued rivals are tricked into admitting they love each other, while a second couple is nearly destroyed by a lie. The wittiest dialogue Shakespeare wrote.

William Shakespeare