"Aiming to upend the notion that Shakespeare was a snobbish playwright with contempt for the poor . . . . This original spin on Shakespearean studies delivers."

Publishers Weekly

“This study comes from Unwin’s work as a theatre director, and his frustration with the way the industry traditionally treats Shakespeare’s working-class characters. As an introduction to the characters themselves . . . Poor Naked Wretches usefully and enjoyably allows us to focus on roles that are not usually placed centre stage.”

Times Literary Supplement

"Unwin's book, his title recalling Lear's anguish at his long neglect of the poor, is as crisp as those productions, and beautifully illustrated with sixteenth-century engravings . . . This is a fresh, moving, richly rewarding book by an old Shakespeare hand whose knowledge of the plays is deep and humane."

The Tablet (UK)

"All who relish the Bard will be delighted by stage director Stephen Unwin’s terrific book Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare's Working People. For my money, the volume should be made required reading for all the directors who routinely patronize Shakespeare's proletarian characters, treating them as dumb clowns, only fit for 'comic relief.' This study makes a convincing case that the Bard's concern for the lower classes is essential to how he sees the world, and that his radical sensitivity to political injustice is closer in spirit to the iconoclasm of Bertolt Brecht and Karl Marx than many critics will admit."

ArtsFuse

"Poor Naked Wretches is a compelling read for a general audience of Shakespeare and theater practitioners and enthusiasts. . . . Unwin’s approach, which includes equal consideration of all of the figures on the stage, demonstrates the value of reading Shakespeare in terms of performance. In doing so, Unwin argues that Shakespeare creates a vast world of individualized characters from across society."

Choice

"Unwin's strength is that he comes from a theatrical background, and has spent years working to bring these people to life on the stage. This first-hand, practical experience informs every chapter of this well-considered and detailed text. Throughout its pages, the reader gets the sense that each example, each paragraph, is based on decades of discussions, trials and errors. It is obvious that Unwin knows the plays inside-out, not just as texts to be examined but as living, breathing entities that, when performed, represent all of the varying shades of humanity."

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