Audiobooks narrated by Maggie Smith

You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir

"[Smith]...reminds you that you can...survive deep loss, sink into life's deep beauty, and constantly, constantly make yourself new." —Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Good Housekeeping, Goodreads, Zibby Mag, Newsweek, BookPage, and LitHub The bestselling poet and author of the "powerful" (People) and "luminous" (Newsweek) Keep Moving offers a lush and heartrending memoir exploring coming of age in your middle age. "Life, like a poem, is a series of choices." In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman's personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she's known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy. You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother's fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman's love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poet's attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

Maggie Smith (Author), Maggie Smith (Narrator)

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Alan Bennett: Plays: BBC Radio dramatisations

A unique collection of twelve full-cast BBC Radio productions of plays by Alan Bennett. The titles are Forty Years On ; A Visit from Miss Prothero ; Say Something Happened ; Kafka’s Dick ; Two in Torquay ; The Madness of George III ; The History Boys ; An Englishman Abroad; A Question of Attribution; The Lady in the Van ; Cocktail Sticks and The Last of the Sun. The cast includes John Gielgud, Patricia Routledge, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench, Thora Hird, Alex Jennings and many more. Duration: 15 hours approx

Alan Bennett (Author), , John Sir Gielgud, John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge (Narrator)

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Twelfth Night: Dramatised Version of William Shakespeare's Masterpieces

Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as a boy) falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man. Illyria, the setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the play's romantic atmosphere. Illyria was an ancient region of the Western Balkans. Viola has fallen in love with the Duke Orsino, creating a love triangle between Duke Orsino, Olivia and Viola, being that Duke Orsino loves Olivia, Viola loves Duke Orsino, and Olivia loves Viola.Viola is not alone among Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroines; in Shakespeare's theatre, convention dictated that adolescent boys play the roles of female characters, creating humour in the multiplicity of disguise found in a female character who for a while pretended at masculinity. Her cross dressing enables Viola to fulfill usually male roles, such as acting as a messenger between Orsino and Olivia, as well as being Orsino's confidant.

William Shakespeare (Author), Maggie Smith, Robin Phillips (Narrator)

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The Lady in the Van: A BBC Radio 4 adaptation

Maggie Smith stars in this BBC radio adaptation of Alan Bennett's highly acclaimed autobiographical stage playAn eccentric old lady moves into a quiet street in Camden Town. There she remains, installed in her van in glorious self-sufficiency, until the council instructs her to move on. Then a kind homeowner invites her to move her van into his garden where she stays for the next fifteen years. This is the fascinating story of the genteel vagrant who found a unique place in Alan Bennett's life and writing.But the drama is as much about the author himself as Miss Shepherd. Why did Alan Bennett let her commandeer his driveway? Was he acting out of kindness, weakness, or hidden guilt over not spending enough time with his own mother? Did he always subconsciously plan to exploit Miss Shepherd for literary profit? Thought-provoking and moving, The Lady in the Van tackles profound questions about social responsibility, homelessness and mental illness with a lightness of touch characteristic of Bennett the master storyteller.With a full cast including Adrian Scarborough, Marcia Warren and Alan Bennett, this bitter-sweet comic tale stars Maggie Smith as Miss Shepherd.Now a major BBC feature film, starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings.

Alan Bennett (Author), , Alan Bennett, Full Cast, Maggie Smith (Narrator)

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Classic Radio Theatre: The Country Wife

Maggie Smith and Jonathan Pryce star in William Wycherley's raunchy Restoration comedy. Considered too obscene to be staged in its original form for nearly 200 years, William Wycherley's bawdy comedy tells the tale of Mr Horner a notorious rake who spreads the false rumour that he is impotent in order to gain free access to other men's wives. When he meets the young, innocent Margery Pinchwife, the 'country wife' of the title, the scene is set for scandal... This sparkling 1985 BBC Radio production stars Maggie Smith as Margery Pinchwife, with an all-star cast including Jonathan Pryce, John Duttine, John Moffatt, Harriet Walter and Michael Aldridge. The Classic Radio Theatre range presents notable radio productions of much-loved plays by some of the most renowned playwrights, and starring some of our finest actors.

William Wycherley (Author), A Full Cast, Full Cast, Jonathan Pryce, Maggie Smith (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Maggie Smith