Love and desire collide in Shakespeare's great tragedy set between Rome and Egypt which follows the eponymous Antony and Cleopatra into a battle for land and refuge in the Roman Empire. Driven back to Rome by Octavius, Antony all but forgets his devotion to the Queen of Egypt when he agrees to marry Octavia to quell dissent and hold the fragile Empire together. Reunited in Alexandria, Antony and Cleopatra crown themselves and their children as Kings and Queens. Gendered expectations of both protagonists mark the play's trajectory, as Antony fails to be a powerful masculine leader and Cleopatra is read as other to the white Romans she supposedly rules through a feminising, orientalised image.

This edition highlights the role of empire, race and poetic imagination in the truths and fictions which hold Antony and Cleopatra's tragic love story together. Moving through the play's scenes in not just Egypt and Rome but Syria, Sicily, Misenum, Athens and Actium complicate the centrality of two geographical boundaries, documenting multiple staging possibilities and the cultural specifics of adaption in and outside of imperialist and colonising histories.

The Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series Antony and Cleopatra provides:
- Cutting-edge interpretations of race, gender, sexuality and disability
- A critical introduction to the textual, cultural and performance history
- An edition rooted in a performance at the Globe in 1606 or 1607
- Detailed on-the-page notes explaining language, character and performance
- A clear page layout with an easy-to-read font and single-column notes
- Images of relevant productions, paintings and texts