Dark and violent, Macbeth is also one of the most theatrically spectacular of Shakespeares tragedies. Indeed, for 250 years - until the early-20th century - it was performed with grand operatic additions set to baroque music. In his introduction Nicholas Brooke relates the plays changing fortunes to changes within society and the theatre and investigates the sources of its enduring appeal. He examines its many layers of illusion and interprets its linguistic turns and echoes, arguing that the earliest surviving text is an adaptation, perhaps carried out by Shakespeare himself in collaboration with Thomas Middleton. This fully annotated edition reconsiders textual and staging problems and appraises past and present critical views.