Five Great Plays of Shakespeare

by Michael West (Editor), William Shakespeare, Victor G. Ambrus (Illustrator)

Romeo and Juliet --
Macbeth --
King Lear --
Othello --
Antony and Cleopatra.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

As a colonial educator in Bengal for a period of twenty years, Michael Philip West (1888–1973) developed many original insights into problems of teaching English ‘in difficult circumstances’ and—on this basis—became a prolific writer of textbooks for Longmans, Green during the late 1920s and 1930s.

Reviews

[Lara Vehar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this one all right. It made the plays easier to read and understand but some of them are still simply too confusing because there are so many characters and so much is going on all at once. But it's still a decent read if you want to read some classics but find the dramas too confusing or hard to understand and digest.

[Janneke · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fun that it was simplified.

Downside: The character names started to blend since there was so much information in very little time which made it confusion.

[Yves Boydens · Rating 2 out of 5]

These simplified versions of Shakespeare's plays are not a great read but interesting for use in the classroom for ESL/EFL students. Especially Romeo & Juliet.