Shakespeare 4+
The #1 Shakespeare App
PlayShakespeare.com
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- Free
- Offers In-App Purchases
Screenshots
Description
Over 25 million downloads!
“It’s really great!”
—Kenneth Branagh, actor and director
“‘The app’s the thing.’ Hamlet was almost right. Great to see Shakespeare Pro superplaying with Shakespeare’s plays.”
—David Crystal, linguist and author of Shakespeare's Words
“The Shakespeare Pro app is simply terrific and filled with loads of wonderful information!”
—Ken Ludwig, Tony and Olivier Award Winning Playwright
Shakespeare Pro® includes the complete works of Shakespeare (41 plays, 154 sonnets and 6 poems, including apocrypha) and search the concordance to find the exact word or phrase you’re looking for (with “relaxed” searching to find words close to your search term).
Shakespeare Pro is packed with these impressive features:
••• QUALITY TEXTS are a top priority and our team spent years compiling and editing the best references available. In the updated editions, the text is even more clear and each individual character is uniquely identified.
••• FIRST FOLIOS AND QUARTOS in original spelling show the works as they were originally published in Shakespeare’s time.
••• AN INTEGRATED GLOSSARY, based on the bestselling lexicon by David & Ben Crystal, Shakespeare’s Words™ is included. Simply tapping on a word will display its definition in context (not just a general definition).
••• ADD YOUR OWN NOTES AND SHARE THEM with your students, classmates, friends, and colleagues. Organize your notes into notebooks for use in the classroom, theatre, or just to remember key facts. Then share them via email or AirDrop.
••• POWER SEARCH THE WORKS by customizing multiple parameters like gender, genre, work, language, line form, soliloquies, and more.
••• CUSTOMIZE YOUR READING EXPERIENCE by choosing from a variety of color themes, change the font family and size, display long or short character names, jump around to different scenes, and view line numbers (*read the note below about line numbering).
••• BOOKMARK YOUR FAVORITE PARTS in addition to remembering the last page you viewed. Even copy/paste that great line.
••• DETAILED SCENE BREAKDOWNS give you an overview of the scenes within each play, their locations, and the characters present in each.
••• CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS help you better understand the actions and motivations of every character—all 1,155 of them.
••• MODERN TRANSLATIONS and lexicons to help you better understand Elizabethan English (extra add-ons).
••• GET THE FACTS by reading up on Shakespeare’s life, view data and chronology about his works, and an overview of scansion terminology or rhetoric. Character Arc Visualizers show individual character arcs or allow for comparison of multiple characters.
••• SHAKE YOUR DEVICE for Shakespeare himself to display a random memorable quote or insult. Or get a new random quote every day.
••• BROWSE THE GALLERY of famous Shakespeare portraits.
••• TEACHER CURRICULUM makes it easy for teachers to introduce students to Shakespeare's works.
••• COMPLETE APOCRYPHA is the most comprehensive breakdown of 14 plays Shakespeare may have had a hand in.
••• BARDFIND™ is the easiest way to find a Shakespeare theatre or venue anywhere in the world.
These are just a few highlights of the great things in Shakespeare Pro. If you’re a student, professor, actor, or just plain love the Bard, this must-have app ensures you have the complete works at your fingertips.
Like the new features? Having trouble and need support? Let us know at support@playshakespeare.com or at http://support.playshakespeare.com.
What’s New
Version 9.0.6
Just another update with some improvements and new goodies. No bigs. :)
• NEW! Search by character archetype
• NEW! List of character archetypes in Study section
• NEW! Easier lookup and cross-reference for glossary, built-in dictionary
• User interface enhancements and improvements
Ratings and Reviews
Pretty ace!
It has study notes for ALL the different plays, and is immensely helpful. I also love that there is a coded system with the characters! All in all really great- a little ‘annoying’ that I’d have to pay more for the rest of it, but what people need to understand is that the app is a source of income for at least one person. I won’t because I’m pretty broke, but if I had money I would.
I’m taking A-level English Literature at the moment, so it’s really helpful- even just understanding the individual acts. Sometimes I really struggle to understand scenes in Shakespeare but this helps a lot!
(Also appreciate that the developer doesn’t take anyone’s sh*t)
Developer Response ,
Thank you for your feedback. Please get in touch at support@playshakespeare.com. Happy to help you with your A-levels. :)
Changed for the worse
This app used to offer a daily quotation which popped up on my screen. This has now become strangely sporadic and when you tap to see the quotation it’s simply takes you to a page within a play, without highlighting anything specific. I realise that it’s the free version so I can’t really expect much, but it’s disappointing that it used to be there and has now been removed
Developer Response ,
We have NEVER removed any feature from the app. Period. In fact, we've done the opposite by adding new features and content over the last 14 years the app has been maintained and improved. We can't help you fix your issues if you don't contact our support. support@playshakespeare.com
Awful modern translation
Don’t waste yout money on the modern translation add-in. The ‘translations’ are puerile and in many cases unnecessary. - for example Shakespeare’s line in Romeo and Juliet, “She speaks” is translated as “She said something” - not a really a helpful addition (quite apart from using the wrong tense). For the next line “As glorious to this night, being o’er my head”, the translation is “you’re as gorgeous in the night, up there”
I really wish that I hadn’t wasted my money on this infantile rubbish.
Re the response, the need may not be diminished but satisfying that need with poor quality and sometimes mindless ‘translations’ will certainly diminish the experience.
As to your suggestion that I contact you whenever I feel that something is incorrect, life is too short to afford the amount of time required.
In answer to the second response (1) I meant that trying to itemise the inadequacies would take far too long to contemplate, (2) it is not my responsibility to review and suggest corrections to those inadequacies and (3) clearly there is little point in contacting a developer that belittles any negative review as a ‘drive by response’.
Developer Response ,
Translating Shakespeare is essentially a modern paraphrasing to help better understand Elizabethan language, and there are many ways to approach it. There are some cases where a "translation" would be the same as the original, but that doesn't diminish the need. If you feel something isn't correct, I suggest you get in touch at support@playshakespeare.com. If, as you say, you can't be bothered with contacting support because of time, maybe you should save even more time by not writing "drive-by two-star reviews".
In-App Purchases
App Privacy
The developer, PlayShakespeare.com, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Usage Data
- Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary based on, for example, the features you use or your age. Learn More
Information
- Provider
- PlayShakespeare.com
- Size
- 446.3 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
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- iPhone
- Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
- iPad
- Requires iPadOS 14.0 or later.
- iPod touch
- Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
- Apple Watch
- Requires watchOS 8.0 or later.
- Apple Vision
- Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
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English
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © Copyright 2008-2024 PlayShakespeare.com All rights reserved.
- Price
- Free
- In-App Purchases
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- Upgrade to Shakespeare Pro £12.99
- Schmidt's Lexicon £2.99
- Modern Translation (All Works) £14.99
- All Lexicons £5.99
- Modern Translation (All Works) £19.99
- All Apocrypha £6.99
- Modern Translation (Macbeth) £2.99
- Course: Intro to Shakespeare £9.99
- Modern Translation (MND) £1.99
- Modern Translation (King Lear) £2.99