Shakespeare’s most imaginative and merry play is set in an enchanted wood amidst fairies and sprites.
When Oberon, King of the Fairies, uses his magic upon four runaway lovers in a midsummer wood outside Athens, chaos ensues. Who really loves whom? Meanwhile, a band of well-meaning but bungling local actors have thier rehearsal sabotaged by the mischievous Puck, who bewitches their leader, Bottom, and Titania, the Fairy Queen. The result is a lively and anarchic comedy which can only be resolved by an elaborate disentangling of spells.
Hermia is played by Amanda Root, Oberon by David Harewood, and Bottom by Roy Hudd.
“Comedy…interwoven with pathos.”—Guardian (London)
The young and virtuous physician’s daughter Helena desperately loves Count Bertram, but he regards her as beneath his notice. When Helena cures the king of France of a mortal illness, he rewards her with Bertram’s hand, but before their marriage can be consummated the count flees. To win her husband back again, Helena forms a daring and resourceful plan. A plot to unmask the strutting soldier Parolles makes up another strand in this sometimes disturbing comedy of deception and disguise.
“All’s Well That Ends Well ranges from scenes of farce to moments of serious insight. Helena’s character, of rather dubious virtue in terms of her tactics with Bertram, sheds interesting ambiguity on the plot’s general theme of the blindness of prejudice and unreason.”—Masterpieces of World Literature
Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world, has become the thrall of the fascinating Cleopatra. Affairs of state call him to Rome, but the attractions of the queen of Egypt prove impossible to resist. From one of history’s greatest love stories Shakespeare builds this magnificent tragedy of the clash between love and duty.
Cleopatra is played by Estelle Kohler, Mark Antony by Ciaran Hinds, Ian Hughes is Octavious Caesar, and David Burke is Domitius Enobarbus.
“This dramatic performance is faithful to Shakespeare’s text, and the actors are excellent; it is no mere reading of the text.”—AudioFile
This pastoral comedy is one of Shakespeare’s best loved, owing to its delightful heroine—the wise, witty, and virtuous Rosalind.
Rosalind, daughter of the deposed Duke Senior, is exiled from the court by her wicked uncle. Disguising herself as a young man and accompanied by her cousin Celia, she takes refuge in the Forest of Arden. In the forest Rosalind meets Orlando with whom she is in love, but her male disguise complicates matters, especially when Rosalind finds she has unwittingly attracted the shepherdess Phebe. But out of the confusion comes reconciliation and forgiveness, and all ends happily.
Rosalind is played by Niamh Cusack, Orlando by Stephen Mangan. Victoria Hamilton is Celia, and Gerard Murphy is Jaques.
“Another play in the fine Arkangel Complete Shakespeare series is performed by accomplished British players. Stephen Mangan and Niamh Cusack are especially strong as the lead characters. The original music and singing give the production a true theatrical feel.”—AudioFile
A psychic assassin. A demonic presence. Survival has deadly consequences . . .
After escaping an asylum, Felix drives across three states in search of bloody vengeance. When he arrives, however, he is instead roped into a plot to apprehend a psychic assassin murdering clergy. If he succeeds, Bishop X has promised to write him a blank check. If he fails, death will be the least of his worries.
The assassin, however, is more cunning and deadly than even Felix Cross could have imagined.
Trapped in the assassin's deadly grip, Felix must win this merciless killer's trust in order to secure his escape. With each passing day, the body count rises, and Felix's sanity inches closer to breaking down.
Can Felix escape the assassin's terrifying trap before it's too late? Or will he become the latest victim?
Old sins cast long shadows even Death can't hide from.
It's been a year since Lazarus went to Hell to free Emma's soul. With Loki gone, things are finally starting to settle down for the Pale Horseman.
At least until a dangerous supernatural virus forces New Orleans to grind to a halt. With thousands of innocent people infected, Lazarus must find the source and shut it down before it becomes a global pandemic. Just when he thinks he's got it under control, refugees from Faerie arrive with dire news. If the creature behind the deadly virus isn't stopped, Earth could be decimated . . . just as Faerie was.
The monster responsible is unlike any Lazarus has faced before, and this is just his opening gambit. But this new foe is about to find out there's nothing more dangerous than a man without a plan . . .
Rome is a city divided, nobility and common-people locked in mutual suspicion. The patrician Caius Marcius, later called Coriolanus, is Rome’s greatest soldier, but his proud refusal to accommodate himself to the demands of the plebeians leads to banishment and death.
A Roman history as well as tragedy, Coriolanus is a complex and subtle exploration of the themes of absolution and compromise, both in the political world and in the life of the individual.
Paul Jesson plays Coriolanus, and Marjorie Yates is Volumnia. Ewan Hooper plays Menenius.
“This is a brisk, lean, vigorous production beautifully recorded—living theater in the finest sense. One hears not only the poetry and drama of the Bard, but the showmanship. The emphasis is on clarity, ensemble, and character. One hears the fun of actors who enjoy wrapping their tongues around Elizabethan speech, the apogee of our language, as spoken by its greatest poet.”—AudioFile
This strange, dark romance includes two songs composed by Shakespeare that are amongst the most beautiful in the English language.
Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline, is persecuted by her wicked stepmother, the Queen, and by Cloten, the Queen’s doltish son. Disguised as a boy, she sets out to find her husband, the banished Posthumus. On her journey, she unwittingly meets her two brothers, stolen from the court as infants. Posthumus, meanwhile, has been convinced by the villainous Iachimo that Imogen is unchaste and agrees to a test of her faithfulness.
Sophie Thompson is Imogen, and Ben Porter is Posthumus. Cymbeline is played by Jack Shepherd while Suzanne Bertish is the Queen. Stephen Mangan plays Cloten, and Ron Cook plays Iachimo.
“Fine songs and poetry. The energetic Arkangel cast, striv[es] successfully for clarity and drama.”—Audiofile
A storm is coming, and Lazarus is the only one who can stop it.
Summer in New Orleans means hot days, humid nights, and the constant threat of hurricanes. Like most people in the Big Easy, Laz has weathered his fair share of storms, but the city is about to get hit by the biggest hurricane in recorded history, a hurricane with a supernatural source.
As the people around him prepare to evacuate, Laz is pulled into a game of cat and mouse with the Norse god, Loki. To survive, he'll have to work with old enemies and make a few new friends. To win, he'll have to beat the trickster god at his own game.
Even if he somehow survives Loki's traps, he's got the hurricane to deal with and the monster behind it, one not even gods know how to stop. Laz has always been good at thinking outside the box, but how do you tame a hurricane?
There's a new necromancer in town, and he wants to take out the competition. Permanently.
Nothing says New Orleans more than Mardi Gras. Parades, booze, beads, and missing people turning into zombies. Zombies only another necromancer could have created. Taking him out should be no problem for the Pale Horseman, except this one seems to know everything about Laz's life, maybe even better than he knows himself.
Nothing is sacred to a psychotic killer armed with necromancy, including Lazarus' family. Pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a deranged killer, Laz must choose between becoming what he fears most or handing his life over to a madman. One with a disturbingly familiar face . . .
Gods run when a Horseman goes to war.
Since being drafted into a position as the Pale Horseman, Lazarus Kerrigan has killed his fair share of gods and monsters. In New Orleans, a city steeped in voodoo and the supernatural, that's saying something.
But when someone else starts killing gods in his city, he takes it personally. His search for the killer leads him to a deadly no holds barred tournament run by the gods themselves. The prize? The right to name the next Black Horseman, Famine. To find the killer, he'll have to enter the tournament and fight gods, monsters, and other Horsemen, eliminating his suspects one by one.
May the best Horseman win.
Hell hath no fury like a Horseman scorned.
They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. For Lazarus Kerrigan, that couldn't be further from the truth. He's got no intention of playing nice once he gets there, not with Emma's soul on the line.
To free her, he'll have to travel through not one Hell, but seven, cutting deals with ghosts, Titans, and gods who would rather crush the Pale Horseman than help him.
Opening that many doors to the underworld is a dangerous plan, one that will require him to call in every favor. It still might not be enough to help him get there in time, since he's got only seven days before death's door slams shut to him forever.
Time to raise a little Hell.
