Shakespeare Classics

Power, tragedy and hubris are played out in this quartet, all of which are set in the febrile political atmosphere of ancient Rome. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Prunella Scales, Patrick Wymark and William Devlin can be heard in these recordings.

Here is the full-cast production of Shakespeare's classic love story, fully dramatized from the complete text, and starring Michael Sheen as Romeo and Kate Beckinsale as Juliet.

Make Shakespeare a part of your daily routine with Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year, a yearlong collection of passages from Shakespeare's greatest works. Drawing from the full spectrum of plays and sonnets to mark each day of the year, whether it's a scene from Hamlet to celebrate Christmas or a Sonnet in June to help you enjoy a summer's day. There are also passages to mark important days in the Shakespeare calendar, both from his own life and from his plays.

Have you ever seen a Shakespeare play and come away without fully understanding it? Or wished you had known the basis of the plot before seeing a play by Shakespeare? Are you studying Shakespeare? Would you like to increase your knowledge of the plays without reading the originals? Then these are the recordings for you!

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the boy hunter Adonis is the willing lover of Venus, the goddess of love, and dies accidentally. Shakespeare has Adonis reject Venus. Venus endlessly argues for making love, with Adonis uttering petulant protests.

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare's finesse to Oscar Wilde's wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim's Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites listeners to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.

A young man named Antonio borrows money from a merchant of Venice named Shylock, so that he can court a fine lady he wishes to marry. When Antonio is late to repay his debt, Shylock has him arrested and demands that a terrible price must be paid...

In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.

Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, agrees to lend Antonio, a Venetian merchant, three thousand ducats so that his friend Bassanio can afford to court his love, Portia. However, Shylock has one condition: Should the loan go unpaid, he will be entitled to a pound of Antonio's own flesh. Meanwhile in Belmont, according to the terms of her father's will, Portia's many suitors must choose correctly from three caskets. Bassanio arrives at Portia's estate and they declare their love for one another before he picks the correct casket.

By the time Shakespeare came to write Macbeth - almost certainly in 1605/1606 - he had already completed three of the great tragedies with which modern audiences are so familiar: Hamlet (1601), Othello (1603), and King Lear (1605). Each of those plays gives us an eponymous hero who is in some significant way flawed, but for whom we also inevitably feel deep sympathy, whatever his errors or crimes. But in MacBeth, Shakespeare has chosen for his tragic hero a man guilty of the most terrible crime imaginable to a Jacobean audience, that of regicide - the murder of a king.

King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare's most moving, tragic hero. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character.

Graeme Malcolm, Eric Stoltz, and other accomplished actors bring life to the words of the world's favorite poets, including William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Also available: The Best Poems of All Time, Volume 2.

Edith Nesbit re-tells the stories of William Shakespeare's plays, making them accessible to children, while evoking the drama and excitement of the originals.

This box set brings the Bard's timeless tales to life for a younger generation, with wit and panache. Samantha Newman's cleverly reworked text retains many of Shakespeare's own inimitable turns of phrase, while simplifying and clarifying the language and plots to make stories accessible to children. Perfect for children aged 7+.

Politics, power and the tragedy of war are played out in these sweeping histories that continue to surprise and entertain. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Prunella Scales, William Squire and Timothy West can be heard in these recordings.

The epic tale of Macbeth. Macbeth and Banquo are Scottish generals returning home from a victorious war campaign. Their journey is interrupted when three strange witches come upon them and predict their futures. They claim that Macbeth will one day become King of Scotland! Macbeth is stirred by the prophesy.

Trojan Prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida as war rages around them. After vowing to be faithful, Cressida is traded to the Greek camp, where she then agrees to see another man. Troilus witnesses Cressida's unfaithfulness and vows to put more effort into the war. The play ends after further deaths on both sides and with no resolution in sight.

King Lear demands that his three daughters tell him how much they love him. When his youngest, Cordelia, refuses, he casts her out and divides his kingdom between the other two. But when those two reject him, he descends into despair and madness...

Now, for the first time in audio, Blackstone presents seven great plays in one volume: Euripides' Medea, Shakespeare's The Tempest, Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid, Dumas' Camille, Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Shaw's Arms and the Man, and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. These productions illustrate the development of European drama from ancient times to the threshold of the modern theater.

1000 citations de dix parmi les plus grands auteurs, écrivains et philosophes, pour développer vos connaissances, illustrer votre conversation et donner du grain à moudre à votre réflexion. Ce format permet d'aller à l'essentiel de la pensée d'un auteur tout en restant fidèle à son style ; ce format accessible est idéal pour la préparation aux concours ou pour développer sa culture générale.