A one-volume gathering of the plays and poems, glossed for readers rather than scholars. Obscure words are explained line by line at the foot of the page, difficult passages are paraphrased, and the text is broken up with maps, town prospects, portraits and Victorian engravings of famous scenes.

The introductory essay places the writing inside a working theatre. A Swiss visitor's account of Julius Caesar at the Globe in 1599, the standing of Burbage, performances at court, the Inns of Court and the universities, and the company's decision to take on an indoor playhouse alongside the Globe — a move said to lie behind the masques, music and spectacle of the late plays and the collaboration with Fletcher.

The Sonnets are read as autobiography, published in 1609 without the poet's involvement and badly proofed; the dedication to Mr W. H. is explained by Elizabethan forms of address. Stratford, the Halls, and the end of the line close it out.