René Weis was educated at the University of Edinburgh and at UCL He worked at UCL from 1980 to 2019. His main area of research is Shakespeare. Among his other interests are opera, the Classical background of English literature, and Modern Drama. He has edited Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV Part 2, King Lear, and the plays of John Webster. He is the author of an historical narrative on the fate of the Cathars (The Yellow Cross) and of biographies of Marie Duplessis (La traviata), Shakespeare, and Edith Thompson.