by Jim McCrudden
There are surprises in this book.
Is Brutus a pompous nitwit? Why was Othello black? What was this plague that closed the theatres? Are the 'bad' quartos all that bad? Why the shifting from 'you' to 'thou'? Did the Globe Theater have toilets? Why is it called "Measure for Measure"? Isn't Petruchio in the "Taming of the Shrew" just a domineering coward? Was Shakespeare recognised in his own time?