Among the infinite variety of critical approaches to Shakespeare, relatively little attention has been paid, even by scholars professedly concerned with Shakespeare's language, to the quality and nature of the sound of his words – despite the commonplace assumption that the young Shakespeare, in particular, was in love with language. One consequence is that such a major element of Richard II as its high proportion of rhyming couplets is either briefly (and negatively) dismissed, or ignored. Here, Kenneth C. Bennett, who teaches in the Department of English at Lake Forest College, lllinois, considers in detail the distinctive qualities and ‘sonances’ of language in the play, looking in particular at the couplets, whose use and significance he analyzes and defends.

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, which had its beginnings in a paperback bookshop, and its first proper premises in a cramped one-time brothel. The Traverse has consistently walked the tightrope between its own ambitions and the cultural constraints of the City of Edinburgh – outside the annual explosion of activity during the festival. In the following article, Vera Lusting combines a view of this cultural context with an historical survey of the theatre's work, a glimpse of some of its more significant productions, and an assessment of the often divergent styles of its succession of artistic directors. She illustrates her survey from interviews conducted with many of the leading figures who have contributed to the Traverse's history.