This is the fifth volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre on their interpretations of major Shakespearian roles. The twelve essays discuss fourteen roles in twelve different productions between 1999 and 2002. The productions covered include three plays not featured before in the series: The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Antony and Cleopatra. The contributors are Philip Voss, Ian Hughes, Aidan McArdle, Zoë Waites, Matilda Ziegler, Alexandra Gilbreath, Antony Sher, David Tennant, Michael Pennington, Simon Russell Beale, Richard McCabe, Frances de la Tour and the late Nigel Hawthorne. The title roles in three of the major tragedies - Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth - are covered and there is also an essay on Iago in Othello. A brief biographical note is provided for each of the contributors and an introduction places the essays in the context of the Stratford and London stages.