Best of London Theatre on Queen Mary 2

Cunard’s first ship, Britannia, set sail across the Atlantic on 4 July 1840, inaugurating a service that has endured for 175 years. Cunard’s success is in part due to its continuous technological advances; from the early years of wooden paddle steamers to steel-hulled leviathans, electric lighting to steam turbine engines. But it is the ships themselves, the shipbuilders, managers, crew and guests that have had the greatest impact on the success of the line, creating unique environments full of personality. This book uses stunning photographs and personal stories to explore the history of these magnificent ships.

This highly acclaimed critical exploration of modern drama begins with Büchner and Ibsen and then discusses the major playwrights who have shaped modern theatre -Strindberg, Chekhov, Pirandello, Brecht and Beckett. "The best single study of the astonishing transformations dramatic art has undergone in the last century or so."-Thomas R. Edwards, New York Times Book Review.

London: a settlement founded by the Romans, occupied by the Saxons, conquered by the Danes and ruled by the Normans. This unremarkable place - not even included in the Domesday Book - became a medieval maze of alleys and courtyards, later to be chequered with grand estates of Georgian splendour. It swelled with industry and became the centre of the largest empire in history. And rising from the rubble of the Blitz, it is now one of the greatest cities in the world.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeare’s work. Along the way he delights in the inventiveness of Shakespeare’s language, which has given us so many of the indispensable words and phrases we use today, and celebrates the Bard’s legacy to our literature, culture and history.

As Britain's longest-serving theatre critic Michael Billington is uniquely placed to offer an authoritative overview of modern British theatre, and the book offers a passionate defence of the dramatist as the medium's key creative figure. Controversial, witty and informed, State of the Nation offers a fresh and challenging look at the vast upheavals that have taken place in British society, and the theatre which documents and challenges it, in the course of sixty turbulent years.

Shakespeare was a man of his time, constantly engaging with his audience's deepest desires and fears, and by reconnecting with this historic reality we are able to experience the true character of the playwright himself. Greenblatt traces Shakespeare's unfolding imaginative generosity - his ability to inhabit others, to confer upon them his own strength of spirit, to make them truly live as independent beings as no other artist has ever done. Digging deep into the vital links between the playwright and his world, Will in the World provides the fullest account ever written of the living, breathing man behind the masterpieces.

Oscar Wilde's life – like his wit – was alive with paradox. He was both an early exponent and a victim of 'celebrity culture': famous for being famous, he was lauded and ridiculed in equal measure. His achievements were frequently downplayed, his successes resented. He had a genius for comedy but strove to write tragedies. Matthew Sturgis draws on a wealth of new material and fresh research, bringing alive the distinctive mood and characters of the fin de siècle in the richest and most compelling portrait of Wilde to date.

Actor, director, impresario, author, David Garrick is the most legendary man of the theatre of modern times. He reformed English theatre practice, established a 'natural' style of acting, and made the profession socially acceptable. As his great friend Dr Johnson remarked, no actor before Garrick had made so much money or achieved such an eminent position in society.

A comprehensive, chronological tour of 3,000 years of dramatic history (including opera and ballet). With color photos throughout.

From Gods to Bad Boys examines the history of theatre from cave paintings to the swinging-sixties through the lives of some of its leading practitioners. Putting plays into their historical context, Giles Ramsay looks at lives of playwrights such as Aeschylus, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Behn, Wilde, Rattigan and Orton. The worlds they lived in are reflected in the plays they wrote.