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BBC Radio Shakespeare: A Collection of Six Tragedies
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis, Corin Redgrave, full cast, Geraldine James, Juliet Stevenson, Ken Stott, Kenneth Cranham, Michael Sheen, Siân Phillips, Sophie Dahl
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
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How did Shakespeare sound to the audiences of his day? For the first time, this audio offers listeners the chance to hear England's greatest playwright performed by a company of actors using the pronunciation of his time. Under the guidance of Ben Crystal, actor, author of Shakespeare on Toast, and an expert in original Shakespearian pronunciation, the company performs some of Shakespeare's best-known poems, solo speeches, and scenes from the plays.
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Shakespeare: The Tragedies: Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Power, excess and betrayal are played out in these tragedies that continue to hold modern resonance. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi and Prunella Scales can be heard in these recordings.
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Full blown Shakespeare
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Summary
Six full-cast BBC Radio productions of Shakespeare's classic tragedies.
Treachery, betrayal and fatal power struggles are among the themes of these six iconic productions of Shakespeare's timeless tragedies. Featuring all-star casts, they are introduced by Sir Richard Eyre.
Hamlet
Shakespeare's powerfully poetic tragedy of murder, madness and revenge stars Michael Sheen as the prince of Denmark, with Kenneth Cranham as Claudius and Juliet Stevenson as Gertrude.
Macbeth
In this notorious 'Scottish play', a lust for power and the prophecy of three witches transform a brave nobleman into a traitor and murderous tyrant. Ken Stott stars as Macbeth and Phyllis Logan as Lady Macbeth.
King Lear
The tragic consequences of evil triumphing over truth and of the vanity of old age, are set in motion when Lear banishes his favourite daughter, Cordelia, from court. Starring Corin Redgrave as King Lear, with David Troughton, Geraldine James and Robert Glenister.
Othello
Evil cunning perverts a once noble mind, as heroic General Othello is destroyed by both his own jealousy and the machinations of the devious Iago. Ray Fearon stars as Othello, with James Frain as Iago.
Romeo and Juliet
An updated version of Shakespeare's tragedy of feuding families and doomed love, set in modern Verona and starring Douglas Henshall as Romeo and Sophie Dahl as Juliet.
Cymbeline
When Cymbeline discovers his daughter Imogen's secret marriage to Posthumus, he banishes her husband. But Posthumus' boasts of his wife's chastity provoke lachimo to attempt her seduction. Bill Wallis stars as Cymbeline.
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What listeners say about BBC Radio Shakespeare: A Collection of Six Tragedies
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sean Watson
- 05-10-20
Unwieldy and difficult to use
I had hoped to use this as a tool to teach the plays, but this proves very difficult if each play is not segmented, and the files are only separated by one chapter per play. At the very least they could come bookmarked, or with a PDF of timings for each Scene and Act within each play to make it easier to navigate. Great performances despite this.
14 people found this helpful
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- QWERTY
- 04-11-20
Not as described - no chapters!
Rating explained 3/5.
"-" 3 as there are on chapters in these tragedies never mind a PDF,
"+" 1 for English accents and not American.
Should there be chapters and/or PDF I may revisit and revise the rating given. Too pricey without chapters broken down therefore misleading. Until then it remains a generous 3.
9 people found this helpful
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- raphael turra sprenger
- 10-11-21
missing important parts
at least in macbeth and hamlet there are important parts that are missing. also, the plays are not divided in acts.
5 people found this helpful
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- Jennifer Baratta She/Her
- 22-02-21
The narrators are outstanding here.
Thank you William Shakespeare and BBC4 Radio for putting together these plays and people. Thank you.
3 people found this helpful
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- Libby &
- 08-04-22
difficult to listen to
We bought this to introduce our children to Shakespeare but after 3 minutes on Hamlet, we gave up. The background noises and actors heavy breathing made it impossible to understand. For my husband and I, who are familiar with the play we could mostly follow along but our children were frustrated.