The Arden Shakespeare

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“Brean’s lively introduction to his Arden edition of the play offers a thorough and judicious account of the relevant scholarship. His cautious conclusion is that Shakespeare had indeed collaborated with Fletcher on Cardenio and that vestiges of his handiwork remain in Double Falsehood....Hammond has made some notable discoveries... Brean’s excellent edition, complete with six valuable appendices, is indispensable.”—Times Literary Supplement

Hammond’s analysis of the play seems to support Theobald’s claims. Hammond says that in the work he finds the presence of three writers—Theobald, Shakespeare and John Fletcher...”—Christian Science Monitor

The publication of Theobald’s adaptation in the Arden Shakespeare series is to be welcomed.”—Jonathan Bate, Daily Telegraph

Double Falshood; or, The Distrest Lovers is a 1727 play which claimed to have been based on manuscripts of an unnamed lost play by Shakespeare. The published version of this intriguing play claims that it was ‘Written Originally by W.SHAKESPEARE’. The play is clearly based on the “Cardenio” episode of Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605) and historical records show the existence of a play performed by John Fletcher and Shakespeare in 1613, probably entitled The History of Cardenio—a Shakespeare play presumed to have been lost. Audiences in 1727 would certainly have recognized dramatic structures and patterns reminiscent of those in Shakespeare’s canonical plays as well as many linguistic echoes. The Arden edition explores the intriguing complex textual and performance history, and includes the viewpoints of major Shakespeare scholars on Shakespeare’s connection to this play. The illustrated introduction provides a comprehensive overview of the debates and opinions surrounding the play and the text is fully annotated with detailed commentary notes

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