"The title of this collection, Shifting the Scene, adapts words from one of the Choruses in Henry V. Its essays try, without denying authority to the text and the theater, to widen the scene of inquiry to include other institutions, like education, politics, language, and the arts, and to juxtapose the constructions of Shakespeare and his works that have been produced by them. However, as in Henry V, there is also a geographical dimension. The collection goes beyond England and the English-speaking world and focuses on Europe (including Britain). It brings together seventeen essays by leading authorities and promising young scholars in the field."