Gregory Doran's account of his quest to re-discover Cardenio, the lost play written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. A thrilling act of literary detection that takes him from the Bodleian Library in Oxford, via Cervantes' Spain to the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford.

Fully illustrated throughout, Shakespeare’s Lost Play tells a fascinating story, which, like the play itself, will engross Shakespeare buffs and theatregoers alike.

Doran’s much-praised production of Cardenio for the Royal Shakespeare Company marked the culmination of years spent searching for a famously 'lost’ play co-authored by William Shakespeare. In this book, Doran takes us with him on his quest to unearth every extant clue and then into the rehearsal room as he pieces together a play unseen since its first performance in 1613.

The result, as the Guardian attested, is ‘an extraordinary and theatrically powerful piece, one that should both please audiences and keep academic scholars in work for years’.

'Part detective story, part lively summary of the historic research and theatrical processes involved in resurrecting a lost play... It is one of the pleasures of Shakespeare's Lost Play that the reader picks up an education in a whole range of topics' — Around the Globe magazine

'Throughout Doran is a charming and invariably helpful  guide... Furthermore, he successfully communicates his passion for the theatre and enables the reader to understand the wealth of labour that lies behind a complicated production' — Times Literary Supplement

'Reading this book is like entering a marvellous emporium... the delight is in the detail.... endlessly entertaining and informative.' — ReviewsGate.com

'Fascinating' — The Stage