Shakespeare Audiobooks | Drama

A Lover's Complaint & The Phoenix and the Turtle

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. ‘In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine, For thou art all, and all things else are thine.’ Two of Shakespeare’s most revered and elegiac poems. In The Phoenix and the Turtle, the mythical phoenix consumes itself in fire, from the ashes of which another phoenix is born. In Shakespeare's poem, the phoenix is female and the turtle (that is, a turtledove) is male. In A Lover’s Complaint, originally published with the sonnets, a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer. 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: Joan Hart and William Squire.

William Shakespeare (Author), Full Cast, Joan Hart, William Squire (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream must be one of the most enduringly popular of Shakespeare's plays, and it is not difficult to see why: the work blends several kinds of comedy with a powerful atmosphere of magic and mystery and a satisfying set of contrasts - between city and country, reason and imagination, love and infatuation.

William Shakespeare (Author), Michael Maloney, Sarah Woodward, Warren Mitchell (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare (Author), Harold Bloom (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare (Author), Joseph Marcell, Samantha Eggar (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in mythical Athens. The theme of the story is that love has no laws and is blind and unpredictable. William Shakespeare wrote many great comedies and tragedies. This story, an entertaining fantasy, takes the reader through a romantic farce on a midsummer's eve, during a time of great rejoicing amongst the elves and fairies who live in the woods. Puck, Oberon, Theseus, Hermia, Demetrius, Helena, Bottom, and Lysander are just a few of the characters in this timeless, world-famous comedy.

William Shakespeare (Author), Saddleback Educational Publishing (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in mythical Athens. The theme of the story is that love has no laws and is blind and unpredictable. William Shakespeare wrote many great comedies and tragedies. This story, an entertaining fantasy, takes the reader through a romantic farce on a midsummer's eve, during a time of great rejoicing amongst the elves and fairies who live in the woods. Puck, Oberon, Theseus, Hermia and Demetrius are just a few of the characters in this timeless, world-famous comedy.

William Shakespeare (Author), Saddleback Educational Publishing (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare combined his love of theater with Greek mythology and the supernatural to create what is arguably his most playfully imaginative work. From love potions to bizarre transformations to the unforgettable play-within-a-play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a non-stop delight, and remains one of the milestones of the Bard’s canon. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Tara Barr as Hermia Erin Bennett as Moth and Second Fairy Jamie Bamber as Oberon Janine Barris as Peaseblossom and First Fairy Brendan Bradley as Lysander Chris Butler as Theseus Kyle Colerider-Krugh as Egeus and Robin Starveling Sue Cremin as Hippolyta Hector Elizondo as Peter Quince Logan Fahey as Francis Flute Glenne Headley as Titania Simon Helberg as Demetrius Stacy Keach as Nick Bottom David Krumholtz as Puck Danny Mann as Snug Jon Matthews as Cobweb and Mustardseed Kira Sternbach as Helena André Sogliuzzo as Philostrate and Tom Snout Directed by Martin Jarvis.

William Shakespeare (Author), André Sogliuzzo, Brendan Bradley, Chris Butler, Danny Mann, David Krumholtz, Erin Bennett, Glenne Headly, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Bamber, Janine Barris, Jon Matthews, Kira Sternbach, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, Logan Fahey, Simon Helberg, Stacy Keach, Sue Cremin, Tara Barr (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

Enjoy this InAudio unabridged presentation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a fresh new audiobook of the charming and amusing tale of a wedding gone awry. This dreamy comedy is entrancing and full of humor and wit, and is sure to keep listeners entertained as they follow the plights of the cast of characters. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known comedies, and is arguably one of his most beloved plays. The play tells the tale of the misadventures of the people gathering to participate in their marriage of the Duke of Athens and Hippolyta, former queen of the Amazons. The story is told between four interconnecting plot-lines and with a plethora of zany characters, including an earnest theater troupe, a fairy king, a mischievous spirit, and many others. Follow the story as the characters experience humorous confusion, magical love potions, and unexpected transformations.

William Shakespeare (Author), Erin Bateman (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

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. ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.’ Shakespeare's most popular comedy, set in an enchanted forest with fairies, sparring lovers and a group of amateur actors who are putting on a play. Four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen. In the end, Puck reverses the magic, and the two couples reconcile and marry. 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: Frank Duncan; Joan Hart; Julian Curry; John Tracy-Phillips; Ian McKellen; Terrence Hardiman; Jeannette Sterke; Prunella Scales; Miles Malleson; Peter Woodthorpe; John Sharp; John Wood; Trevor Nunn; Christopher Kelly; Anthony White; Jill Balcon; Richard Goolden; Elizabeth Proud; George Rylands; John Sharp; Richard Kay.

William Shakespeare (Author), Frank Duncan, Full Cast, Ian Mckellen, Julian Curry, Prunella Scales, Terrence Hardiman (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare (Author), Ian Mckellen (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. The play consists of four interconnecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.

William Shakespeare (Author), Ernst Pattynama (Narrator)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream

Together with The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most magical plays. One night, two parties creep from Athens into the surrounding forest. One party includes sweethearts Lysander and Hermia, fleeing from Athenian law and the disapproval of Hermia’s father to get married. In pursuit is Demetrius, the suitor of Hermia favored by her father, and the doleful Helena, formerly affianced to Demetrius. Six tradesman (the “rude mechanicals”) make up the other party. They hope to present a play at the upcoming nuptials of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and are seeking a private place for rehearsal. Surveying these disparate interlopers are the forest fairies, whose King Oberon and Queen Titania are engaged in a ferocious marital dispute. A magical love potion throws all into disarray. Attachments are disrupted, new ones are formed—but finally, conjugal harmony is established between lovers. In the last act the “rude mechanicals” win their chance to present their clumsy dramatic piece to the amusement and satisfaction of the aristocratic audience.

William Shakespeare (Author), A Full Cast, Blaise Doran, Claudia Anglade, Emma Faye, Gary D. Macfadden, Gary Macfadden, Kendra Murray, Linda Barrans, Mark Crowle-Groves, Marty Krz, Pj Morgan, Tom Saer (Narrator)

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Shakespeare Audiobooks in Drama