'Give me the daggers and I'll pin the blame/ On Duncan's grooms who both are also slain. /A little water clears us of this deed /Though a large scotch might also do the trick...' To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, this is the first of a new collection of the Bard's greatest plays, digested to a few thousand words with invaluable side notes from John Sutherland. Funny and incredibly clever, these parodies are a joy for those who know their Shakespeare, perfect for the theatre goer needing a quick recap, and a massive relief for those just desperate to pass their English exam.

John Crace, creator of the Guardian's 'Digested Read' column, parodies 'the Scottish play' in a brilliantly funny reduced form, with Professor John Sutherland providing notes.

About the Author

John Crace (Author)
John Crace is the Guardian's parliamentary sketch writer and author of the 'Digested Read' columns and he writes regularly for Grazia. He is the author of I Never Promised you a Rose Garden: A short guide to modern politics, the coalition and the general election and also Baby Alarm: A Neurotic's Guide to Fatherhood, Vertigo: One Football Fan's Fear of Success , Harry's Games: Inside the Mind of Harry Redknapp, Brideshead Abbreviated: the Digested Read of the Twentieth Century and The Digested Twenty-first Century. He lives in London.

John Sutherland (Author)
John Sutherland is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus of Modern English Literature at University College London and previously taught at the California Institute of Technology. He writes regularly for the Guardian, The Times and the New York Times, and is the author of many books including Curiosities of Literature, Is Henry V a War Criminal? (with Cedric Watts), biographies of Walter Scott, Stephen Spender and the Victorian elephant Jumbo, and The Boy Who Loved Books, a memoir.

Reviews
What finer way to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death than a series of witty modern reworkings...Shakespeare reduced to 100 pages of pithy pentameter with smart side notes. * Evening Standard *
Witty, fresh takes on Shakespeare * The Times *
Hilarious - and all the better for those of us who know our Shakespeare back to front. -- Harriet Walter
Hilarious - and all the better for those of us who know our Shakespeare back to front. -- Harriet Walter
Shrewd interpretations of the Bard; funny footnotes too. -- Hugh Bonneville



Book Information
ISBN 9780857524263
Author John Crace
Format Hardback
Page Count 96
Imprint Doubleday
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 145g
Dimensions(mm) 184mm * 119mm * 15mm