Shakespeare Audiobooks | Drama

Vanity Fair: BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Stephen Fry narrates this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of the famous Victorian comic novel. Orphan Becky Sharp and wealthy Amelia Sedley are best friends at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies. On leaving school, ambitious, social-climbing Becky looks for a rich man to support her, while the sweet-natured Amelia meets her old friend Dobbin, who is instantly captivated. Becky takes a job in the service of Sir Pitt Crawley, and uses her charm to hook his dashing son. However, marriage to Captain Rawdon of the Guards does not provide the fortune she seeks. Meanwhile, Amelia rejects the faithful Dobbin and becomes engaged to the handsome George Osborne – but destiny has some shocks in store for her, too. As time goes by, the girls' fortunes rise and fall. War, financial disaster and the ruin of her reputation leave the resourceful Beckyundaunted, but Amelia finds it harder to bear fate's blows. It will be many years before their story is played out, and their futures finally decided... William Makepeace Thackeray's classic satire of passion and ambition, first published in 1847 and 1848, is a deliciously ironic portrait of English society and its mores. This engaging 2004 radio production, published for the first time on audio, features a distinguished cast including Emma Fielding as Becky Sharp, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos Sedley. Duration: 5 hours approx

William Makepeace Thackeray, William Thackeray (Author), Emma Fielding, Stephen Fry (Narrator)

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Richard III (in French): Monologues interprétés par David Serero en Francais

David Serero, William Shakespeare (Author), David Serero (Narrator)

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Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare (Author), Group (Narrator)

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King Lear

King Lear is widely held as the greatest of Shakespeare's tragedies; to some, it is the greatest play ever written. King Lear abdicates the British throne, to divide his kingdom among his three daughters in proportion to their professed love of him. His plan misfires when Cordelia, his youngest and favourite daughter, refuses to flatter her father; she is disinherited and banished.

William Shakespeare (Author), Group (Narrator)

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Classic BBC Radio Shakespeare: Romances: The Winter's Tale; Pericles; The Tempest

Three classic radio productions from the BBC archives starring Hannah Gordon, Tim Pigott-Smith, Paul Scofield and a host of celebrated acting talent.These three legendary plays, performed by some of the best-known theatrical actors of the 20th Century, are the perfect way to commemorate England's greatest dramatist. The Winter's Tale One man's consuming jealousy threatens to destroy both himself and those around him, but his actions arouse a passionate sense of honour, love, justice and self-sacrifice in members of his Court and family. First broadcast in 1982, starring Ronald Pickup as Leontes, with Hannah Gordon as Hermione and John Gielgud as Time. Pericles Pericles is haunted by Fate, buffeted by storms, driven from country to country and cruelly separated from his wife and daughter. Having endured the waywardness of Fortune, will he be reunited with his family? First broadcast in 1981, starring Tim Pigott-Smith as Pericles and Angharad Rees as Marina. The Tempest Set on an enchanted island ruled by the sorcerer Prospero, this spellbinding tale of magic, illusion, forgiveness and repentance is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. First broadcast in 1974, starring Paul Scofield as Prospero and Patrick Stewart as Caliban. Recorded at BBC Broadcasting House and featuring the BBC Drama Repertory company, with specially composed music, this is classic radio drama at its finest. Duration: 7 hours 35 mins approx.

William Shakespeare (Author), , Full Cast, Hannah Gordon, Paul Scofield, Tim Pigott-Smith (Narrator)

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Vinegar Girl: The Taming of the Shrew Retold (Hogarth Shakespeare)

'You can't get around Kate Battista as easily as all that' Kate Battista is feeling stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she's always in trouble at work - her pre-school charges adore her, but the adults don't always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner. Dr Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There's only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr... When Dr Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he's relying - as usual - on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he's really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men's touchingly ludicrous campaign to win her round? Anne Tyler's retelling of The Taming of the Shrew asks whether a thoroughly modern, independent woman like Kate would ever sacrifice herself for a man. The answer is as individual, off-beat and funny as Kate herself. 'I loved Kate and Pyotr and the way they discover the oversized, tender, irreverent relationship that fits them... It is joyful' Rachel Joyce 'Read her books and she can actually change your view, change how you see the world' Judy Finigan, Mail on Sunday 'Tyler writes with an apparent effortlessness which conceals great art' Helen Dunmore, Stylist 'Tyler's sentences are wholly hers, instantly recognisable and impossible to duplicate' Hanya Yanigihara, Observer 'A new novel from Tyler is always a treat' Daily Mail

Anne Tyler (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice was probably written between 1596 and 1598, and was printed with the comedies in the First Folio of 1623. Bassanio, an impoverished gentleman, uses the credit of his friend, the merchant Antonio, to borrow money from a wealthy Jew, Shylock. Antonio pledges to pay Shylock a pound of flesh if he defaults on the loan, which Bassanio will use to woo a rich heiress, Portia. A subplot concerns the elopement of Shylock's daughter Jessica with a Christian, Bassanio's friend Lorenzo. In its focus on love and marriage, the play shares certain concerns with Shakespeare's other comedies. Yet its depiction of the tensions between Jews and Christians in early modern Venice - and its highly dramatic trial scene in Act 4 - create darker currents in the play.

William Shakespeare (Author), Elizabeth Klett (Narrator)

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Othello

Othello is the story of a cross-cultural romance between the title character, a noble moor who is a general in the Venetian army, and Desdemona, a beautiful and virtuous Venetian lady. The newly-married couple fall prey to the machinations of Iago, Othello's jealous ensign, who plots to destroy their union.

William Shakespeare (Author), Various (Narrator)

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Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe

There are 83 copies of the First Folio in a vault beneath Capitol Hill, the world's largest collection. Well over 150 Indian movies are based on Shakespeare's plays-more than in any other nation. If current trends continue, there will soon be more high school students reading The Merchant of Venice in Mandarin Chinese than in early-modern English. Why did this happen, and how? Ranging ambitiously across four continents and 400 years, Worlds Elsewhere is an eye-opening account of how Shakespeare went global. Seizing inspiration from the playwright's own fascination with travel, foreignness, and distant worlds, Dickson takes us on an extraordinary journey-from Hamlet performed by English actors tramping through Poland in the early 1600s to twenty-first-century Shanghai, where Shashibiya survived Mao's Cultural Revolution to become an honored Chinese author. Both a cultural history and a literary travelogue, the first of its kind, Worlds Elsewhere explores how Shakespeare became the world's writer, and how his works have changed beyond all recognition during the journey.

Andrew Dickson (Author), Andrew Dickson (Narrator)

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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother. The play vividly portrays both true and feigned madness – from overwhelming grief to seething rage – and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

William Shakespeare (Author), Sam Stinson (Narrator)

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Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most famous of Shakespeare's plays and is thought to be the most famous love story in Western history. It concerns the fate of two very young lovers who would do anything to be together. The Montagues and the Capulets of Verona, Italy, are in the midst of a long-standing feud when Romeo Montague drops in on a masquerade party at the Capulets'. While there he meets and woos the daughter of the house, Juliet. She likewise returns his passion, and their secret meeting later that night on her bedroom balcony begins a series of tragic events that no one could have foretold.

William Shakespeare (Author), Becky Miller (Narrator)

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Classic BBC Radio Shakespeare: Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Twelfth

Three classic radio productions from the BBC archives starring Nigel Hawthorne, Miriam Margolyes, Geraldine McEwan and a host of celebrated acting talent.These three legendary plays, performed by some of the best-known theatrical actors of the 20th Century, are the perfect way to commemorate England's greatestdramatist. The Taming of the Shrew: The controversial comedy about the battle of the sexes and a very unconventional marriage, starring Fenella Fielding as Katherine, with Miriam Margolyes as Bianca and Paul Daneman as Petruchio. A Midsummer Night's Dream: One of Shakespeare'sbest-loved plays, this tale of warring fairies, eloping lovers and the magic and madness of love has bewitched audiences since its very first performance. Starring Nigel Hawthorne as Oberon with Maureen O'Brien as Titania. Twelfth Night: Mistaken identity and a tangled love triangle lead to confusion and, ultimately, happiness in this comic masterpiece. Starring Dorothy Tutin as Viola, with Geraldine McEwan as Olivia and Stephen Murray as Malvolio. Recorded at BBC Broadcasting House and featuring the BBC Drama Repertory company, with specially composed music including a score from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, this is classic radio drama at its finest.Duration: 7 hours approx.

William Shakespeare (Author), , Full Cast, Geraldine McEwan, Geraldine Mcewan, Miriam Margolyes, Nigel Hawthorne (Narrator)

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Shakespeare Audiobooks in Drama