Shakespeare Circle

This volume takes a new route into Shakespeare by looking at the people around him. Its contributors study his kin, companions, fellow performers, co-writers and patrons, treating each figure both as a person in their own right and as someone connected to the playwright. Familiar names such as Richard Burbage, Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton receive fresh attention, alongside lesser-known individuals who had a bearing on Shakespeare's career and world.

The book challenges accepted views on several matters, including the extent of Shakespeare's wealth, his family life and personal ties, and where he stood socially. The writing comes from a team that includes leading biographers, writers and Shakespeare scholars working today, and it is positioned as a contribution to both Shakespearean biography and the social history of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

The book is aimed at anyone who wants to learn more about the dramatist and the period in which he worked. A companion website adds imagined first-person audio accounts voiced by some of the people featured in the book.