Classic Plays

The Cherry Orchard (1903) is the final play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It is considered as one of four outstanding plays by Chekhov, along with The Seagull, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. The narrative recounts an aristocratic landowner who returns to her family estate just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. It dramatizes the socio-economic developments in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom and the waning power of the aristocracy.

Julius Caesar is a marked man. Adoring commoners celebrate his battlefield victories, but those higher up the Roman political ladder worry that his ambition has grown too large. On a stormy night full of alarming sights and ominous portents, Cassius persuades Caesar's friend Brutus to help him with a momentous task: assassinate Caesar for the good of the Republic. But death doesn't stop Caesar, whose spirit haunts the destinies of his friends and enemies, threatening the republican ideal for which they murdered him.

War and intrigue define the court of the young King Henry VI, who must struggle to maintain dominion of France now that forces have been rallied against him by a young maiden, known by the people as Joan of Arc. The first part of William Shakespeare's War of the Roses tetralogy.

When a handsome young man begins to court Catherine Sloper, she feels she is very lucky. She is a quiet, gentle girl, but neither beautiful nor clever; no one had ever admired her before, or come to the front parlour of her home in Washington Square to whisper soft words of love to her. But in New York in the 1840s young ladies are not free to marry where they please. Catherine must have her father’s permission, and Dr Sloper is a rich man.

Julius Caesar triumphantly returns to Rome, where he is met by betrayal, conspiracy, and, ultimately, assassination, followed by Mark Antony's revenge on the plotters. The drama is also the story of Marcus Brutus and his struggle between the conflicting demands of his friendship with Caesar and his loyalty to Roman ideals.

In this, Shakespeare's most fantastical comedy, the fairy world wreaks havoc with the foolish mortal one as a lover's nightmare melts into an innocent dream. Under the canopy of a moonlit forest, pairs of lovers and five delightfully inept "mechanicals" weave a web of magic.

An award winning Drama from SmartPass. Unabridged with guided description to set the scene and fill in visual moments.

Elizabeth Gaskell, famed author of Cranford, is cherished for her incise social observations and portrayals of the changing nature of English life through the Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era. Mr. Harrison's Confessions is a warm, funny portrait of life in a small English town. Following the young Doctor Harrison, we hear of his practice and his courting in this charming tale.

In this great tragedy, Macbeth's ambition to fulfill the three witches' prophecy that he will become King of Scotland spurs him and his wife to assassinate King Duncan. But for persistant ghosts, Lady Macbeth's conscience, and the vengeance of Duncan's son, they might have gotten away with murder!

At the center of each of the four great Shakespearean tragedies - Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello - is a powerful figure who is led to destruction by a fatal character flaw. In the case of Macbeth it is ambition. Initially a valiant warrior, and staunch servant of his regal overlord Duncan, Macbeth succumbs to the lure of absolute political domination, which leads to murder, revolt, and comprehensive defeat.

From the Lady Macbeth to the Three Witches, AudioLearn is your complete study guide to Shakespeare's Macbeth. Download AudioLearn to your MP3 player and study at the gym. Pop in an AudioLearn CD and review key terms in the car. With its convenient format, AudioLearn fits your busy lifestyle, enabling you to study anywhere, anytime.

With more than 80 of the most popular and loved poems in the English language, this collection is one of the most comprehensive anthologies of its kind. It covers a remarkable range, from the striking visions of Blake and Shelley and the insights of Keats to lighter but equally memorable verse by Tennyson.

King Lear is one of Shakespeare's greatest and darkest works. Lear banishes his favorite daughter when she seemingly speaks out against him. However, he does not know that his two other daughters, who pay tribute to him, are in fact plotting against him. Shakespeare's observations on the nature of human suffering and kinship are never better defined than in this play.

Here is Shakespeare's 1599 tragedy, performed by The Marlowe Society. Julius Caesar portrays the conspiracy against the Roman dictator, his assassination, and its aftermath.

In presenting this selection of the Bard's stories to children, Edith Nesbit hopes to entice her young audience to read them in their later years when they can more appreciate the magic and richness of the language. Selections include: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Tempest", "As You Like It", "The Winter's Tale", "King Lear", "Twelfth Night", "Romeo and Juliet", "Pericles", "Hamlet", "Cymbeline" and "The Taming of the Shrew".

The Marlowe Society perform Shakespeare's comedy 'As You Like It' which follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court to find safety and eventually love in the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia and court jester, Touchstone.

A fickle public is fully supportive of Caesar's would-be assassins - until they actually do assassinate him. Discover wher political back-stabbing really got its start in this timeless tale of murder and revenge.

A solo recording of King Lear in an American dialect.

An award winning Drama from SmartPass. Unabridged with guided description to set the scene and fill in visual moments.

Henry VIII folis a plot by the scheming Cardinal Wolsey and rejects his 20-year marriage with the tragic Katherine of Aragon. All the while he is keeping his wandering eye on the beautiful Anne Boleyn.