This chapter introduces the understandings of mediation and accessibility that inform this collection’s interest in what happens when Shakespeare is translated, and who is included and excluded in the process. It explains the development of its focus on accessibility as key to approaching both the practice and study of Shakespeare translation. In defining the various senses of mediation through which the collection understands translation, it also emphasises the interdisciplinary and multimodal character of its chapters, which cover Shakespeare translation on pages and stages, on screens and on the radio, at home and in the classroom. Finally, it gives a brief outline of the range of global cases (spanning Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as Europe and North America) and languages (American Sign Language, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Hausa, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Tamil and Welsh, etc.) covered in the collection’s chapters.