William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.
‘We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.’
Magical and dreamlike in its tone, Shakespeare’s The Tempest begins with a storm of epic proportions and a shipwreck. Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter. Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so, Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing ‘men’ from ‘monsters’, and the realities of justice.
All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.
Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production.
The full cast includes: Terrence Hardiman; Ian Lang; Michael Hordern; Denis McCarthy; Ian Lang; Denys Robertson; Derek Jacobi; Patrick Wymark; Philip Strick; Clive Swift; Natasha Parry; Miles Malleson; Margaret Field-Hyde; Jill Daltry; Margaretta Scott; Ena Mitchell.
A beautiful love story turns to tragedy when jealousy takes root. The powerful general, Othello, finds himself hurting the one person he loves most in the world, his wife, Desdemona, when he misplaces his trust in Iago. Treacherous and vindictive, Iago is enraged at being passed over for a promotion and plots his revenge against Othello setting off a chain of events that ends in the ultimate sacrifice.
This series features classic Shakespeare retold with graphic color illustrations. Educators using the Dale-Chall vocabulary system adapted each title. Each 64-page, softcover book retains key phrases and quotations from the original play. Research shows that the more students read, the better their vocabulary, their ability to read, and their knowledge of the world.
Las circunstancias -y también la ambición, la envidia y el asesinato- van a hacer que Hamlet y Ofelia, una pareja de enamorados que, con sus respectivas familias, tenían todo el derecho a ser felices, no lo puedan ser, gestándose el desenlace más dramático imaginable.Hamlet simplemente no puede creer que su madre, sólo dos meses después de la muerte de su padre, se haya casado con su tío Claudio. La obsesión de Hamlet llega hasta tal punto que su pensamiento se vuelve cínico, llevándole a identificar la sexualidad femenina con la corrupción. Y hace a la pobre Ofelia blanco del odio que le ha despertado su madre: "Si tienes que casarte, hazlo con un tonto, porque los listos saben que los convertirás en monstruos (con cuernos)."La idea de la muerte en Hamlet es fundamental: ve en ella la solución a todos sus problemas, y especialmente al problema de la certeza, de cuál es la verdad, tan difícil de resolver en un mundo ambiguo como el nuestro. En Sonolibro, y partiendo del respeto debido a Shakespeare, nos hemos permitido adaptar varias de sus piezas más conocidas. Nuestra intención ha sido despertar el interés de aquellas personas que, por una razón u otra, todavía no se han acercado a la inagotable riqueza que es su obra.
'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
“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
Bassanio is a man in love, but he does not have much money to his name, and thus is unable to woo the rich heiress Portia. His friend Antonio suggests that they borrow money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender who has had many dealings with Antonio in the past. Shylock, being of Antonio’s ability to repay, agrees to grant the loan with a difficult condition. If the loan is not repaid in full by the agreed date, Shylock will take a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
The loan is not paid in time, and what follows is a dramatic courtroom scene in which Shylock’s demands are met with legal intricacies that turn the tables on him. The lengthy legal discussion ends up with lives and fortunes on the line, and through the opposition’s knowledge of in-depth legal rules and policies, the result of the trial is not what anyone expects. Depending on the critical lens with which this text is approached, Shylock or Antonio can each be portrayed as the villain or hero from a certain point of view.
The Merchant of Venice is often read and analyzed for its portrayal of Judaism and antisemitism, its spin on the common courtroom drama, and for Shakespeare’s signature witty writing and observations about humanity. It is a play that, like many of Shakespeare’s works, can be read and interpreted in many ways, and leaves the final judgments of the characters to the audience to decide.
An abbreviated version of Shakespeare's comedy featuring the clowns and the fairies, without most of the love stories. Run amok with the rustics, as played by CART's finest.
Comienza nuestra historia en la tierra del amor y del agua, Venecia. Desdémona, profundamente enamorada de Otelo, decide escaparse con él para ser su mujer sin contar con la autorización de su padre, Brabancio.Otelo es un brillante general del ejército veneciano, que acaba de elegir a Casio para que sea su lugarteniente. Esto enfurece enormemente a Yago, otro de los militares bajo el mando de Otelo, que se consideraba con más méritos que Casio.Yago, movido por la furia y los celos hacia Casio, decide elaborar un plan con el que matar dos pájaros de un tiro. Él conoce bien la naturaleza humana, y sabe cómo jugar con ella. No sería aventurado considerar a Yago el maestro más consumado del engaño en la historia de la literatura. Siguiendo un cuidadoso plan, manipula de forma sofisticada a Otelo, llegando a convencerle de que....
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.
Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in history-and thanks to Shakespeare, one of the most intriguing personalities in literature. She is the lover of Marc Antony, defender of Egypt, and, perhaps most enduringly, a champion of life. Cleopatra is supremely vexing, tragic, and complex. She has fascinated readers and audiences for centuries and has been played by the greatest actresses of their time, from Elizabeth Taylor to Vivien Leigh to Janet Suzman to Judi Dench.
Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Cleopatra with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character: Just as we encounter one Anna Karenina or Jay Gatsby when we are in high school and college and another when we are adults, Bloom explains his shifting understanding of Cleopatra over the course of his own lifetime. The book becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our own humanity.
Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare's characters make. With Cleopatra, he delivers exhilarating clarity and invites us to look at this character as a flawed human who might be living in our world. The result is an invaluable resource from our greatest literary critic.
'I saw the strangest sight tonight.'
New Bohemia. America. A storm. A black man finds a white baby abandoned in the night. He gathers her up - light as a star - and decides to take her home.
London. England. After the financial crash. Leo Kaiser knows how to make money but he doesn't know how to manage the jealousy he feels towards his best friend and his wife. Is his newborn baby even his?
New Bohemia. 17 years later. A boy and a girl are falling in love but there's a lot they don't know about who they are and where they come from.
Jeanette Winterson's cover version of The Winter's Tale vibrates with echoes of the original but tells a contemporary story where Time itself is a player in a game of high stakes that will either end in tragedy or forgiveness. It shows us that however far we have been separated, whatever is lost shall be found.
Helena Bonham Carter stars as Rosalind, with David Morrissey as Orlando and Natasha Little as Celia in Shakespeare's comedy about the enchanted world of the Forest of Arden. BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard. In the acclaimed BBC Radio Shakespeare series, each play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of the Royal National Theatre. Revitalised, original and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.
Shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a boy and enters the service of Duke Orsino and falls in love with him. Orsino sends his servant, Cesario (Viola in disguise) to woo the Countess Olivia on his behalf. Olivia cannot love Orsino, but promptly falls in love with his servant, Cesario (Viola). Viola's shipwrecked twin brother, Sebastian, arrives on the scene creating chaos as it now appears that Cesario can be in two places at once. Will all the confusion end to everyone's satisfaction?
