All for Love

Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics)

John Dryden

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781780016931
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

The NHB Drama Classics series presents the world's greatest plays in affordable, highly readable editions for students, actors and theatregoers. The hallmarks of the series are accessible introductions (focussing on the play's theatrical and historical background, together with an author biography, key dates and suggestions for further reading) and the complete text, uncluttered with footnotes. The translations, by leading experts in the field, are accurate and above all actable. The editions of English-language plays include a glossary of unusual words and phrases to aid understanding.

All For Love is John Dryden's version of the Antony and Cleopatra story, told as a heroic tragedy. Antony and Octavius Caesar are struggling for control of what was to become the Roman Empire. Antony and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, are lovers and political allies, but their forces have been defeated at the battle of Actium. The play is set in Alexandria, under siege by Octavius Caesar.

Edited and introduced Trevor R. Griffiths.