Introduction : inside the wooden O -- England goes global -- Communion and conscience -- Snacking through Shakespeare -- Life without Elizabeth -- Swordplay and swagger -- Europe : triumphs of the past -- Ireland : failures in the present -- City life, urban strife -- New science, old magic -- Toil and trouble -- Treason and plots -- Sex and the city -- From London to Marrakesh -- Disguise and deception -- The flag that failed -- A time of change, a change of time -- Plague and the playhouse -- London becomes Rome -- The theatres of cruelty -- Shakespeare goes global