Classic Plays

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.

Paul Scofield, Siobhan McKenna and John Neville perform Twelfth Night. This is Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores - only to be pursued by the woman he loves.

A magical tale of enchantment, retribution and love. Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, is betrayed by his brother and exiled to a desert island with his daughter Miranda. With the help of Ariel, a spirit, he uses his supernatural powers to shipwreck his brother and others on the same island. With a series of illusions, he regains his rightful place and finds a husband for his daughter.

A shipwreck separates Viola and her twin brother Sebastian. She lands in the magical and melancholy kingdom of Illyria, where nearly everybody dances some step to the music of Love.

Hamlet is one of the great classics, if not the greatest, of English drama. Set in Denmark, the play recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.

In this, Shakespeare's last play, the dark themes of punishment and loss give way to those of forgiveness and new beginnings. The plot involves a shipwreck on a fantastic island where friends reunite, love blooms, and magic reigns.

Shakespeare's comedy is performed by a cast including Derek Godfrey, Patrick Garland, Prunella Scales and Peter Pears.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare is one of the Shakespeare’s most well-known and beloved tragedy plays. Set in Denmark, it tells the story of Hamlet, a man whose father was murdered and replaced by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius. The play follows Hamlet as he discovers the truth of his father’s fate and becomes more and more distressed and enraged as he plots vengeance against his uncle.

Whether it's friendship, beauty, love, or something more saucy, the Bard of Avon has a sonnet for every occasion. Learn what the sonnets mean and hear fun facts about the poet, witches, Elizabethan life, and the unfortunate hygiene habits of the 16th century. Despite being written 400 years ago, the sonnets speak to the eternal ups and downs of anyone in love and the struggle to fight our mortality with art. Many centuries later, we have something else in common with Elizabethans: We find kittens to be utterly adorable.

King Lear divides his kingdom between his two duplicitous daughters, banishing the loving Cordelia and the steadfast Kent. These and other acts of folly launch a hugely moving search for dignity, self-knowledge and wisdom on the grandest of scales.

Apollon Evgen'evich Okojomov - pomeshhik, krasavec-muzhchina, kotoryj zhivjot v schastlivom brake v uezdnom gorodke Brjahimove. Buduchi v Moskve on proigralsja v karty i zalez v dolgi. Okojomov reshil vskruzhit' golovu moskovskoj millionershe Obolduevoj i tem samym popravit' svoi finansovye dela. Dlja togo, chtoby pretendovat' na pridanoe Obolduevoj, Apollon reshaet srazu razvestis' s zhenoj. Razvod on poluchit, tol'ko esli ulichit suprugu v nevernosti.

Istorija, kotoruju rasskazyvaet Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovskij v p'ese "Serdce ne kamen'", stara, kak mir. V bogatom kupecheskom dome, slovno ptica v kletke, tomitsja molodaja krasavica Vera Filippovna. V pjatnadcat' let ona vyshla zamuzh za bogacha Karkunova. Ljubvi Vera Filippovna k muzhu ne pitala, no buduchi porjadochnoj baryshnej byla emu vernoj zhenoj.

«Krazha» - luchshaja drama Londona. Jeta istorija objedinila i ljubovnye otnoshenija, i spekuljaciju politicheskimi interesami, muzhestvennye postupki i otkrovennoe predatel'stvo. Po svidetel'stvu ego zheny Charmian London, pisatel', sozdav «Krazhu», schital, chto na sej raz on napisal «dovol'no horoshuju p'esu». Odnako n'ju-jorkskie teatral'nye agentstva, kotorym dramaturg predlozhil svoe proizvedenie, edinodushno ot nego otkazalis', i Londonu tak i ne udalos' uvidet' «Krazhu» v scenicheskom ispolnenii.