The new Cambridge Shakespeare series is aimed at students worldwide, offering an updated study with an emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line explanations and textual notes for the plays and poems.

The introductions are regularly updated with references to new critiques, stage, and film interpretations. For this second edition of 'Antony and Cleopatra,' David Bevington has included in his introductory section a thorough examination of recent critiques and stage interpretations, demonstrating how the theatrical design and imagination of this work make it one of Shakespeare's most notable tragedies.

This edition pays attention to the work as theatre: a detailed, illustrated presentation of the history of the stage is followed, in the analysis, by a discussion of the stage interpretation choices offered by the text. The analysis is particularly thorough and helpful, clarifying many obscure words and phrases, illuminating sexual wordplay, and warning the reader of how Shakespeare shapes his source material from Plutarch's 'Lives.'