This study provides a re-reading of the two sequences of English history plays, Henry VI-Richard III and Richard II-Henry V. Reconsidering the chronicle sources and the staging practices of Shakespeare"s time, Grene argues that the history plays were originally designed for serial performance. The book looks at their original creation in the 1590s and at modern serial productions or adaptations, such as the famous Royal Shakespeare Company"s 1960s Wars of the Roses and others.