Robert Weimann redefines the relationship between writing and performance, or playing, in Shakespeare’s theater. Through close reading and careful analysis Weimann offers a reconsideration and redefinition of Elizabethan performance and production practices. The study reviews the most recent methodologies of textual scholarship, the new history of the Elizabethan theater, performance theory, and film and video interpretation, and offers a new approach to understanding Shakespeare. Weimann examines a range of plays as well as other contemporary works. A major part of the study explores the duality between playing and writing.