The Tempest cover art

The Tempest

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Tempest

By: William Shakespeare
Narrated by: Barry Morse, Sonja Lanzener, Paul Sparer, Ira Burton, John Glover, Brian Murray, Nicholas Kepros, Susan Osborn Mott, Pat Terry
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £6.99

Buy Now for £6.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

In The Tempest, long considered one of Shakespeare’s most lyrical plays, Prospero, a sorcerer, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded on an enchanted island for 12 years. When a shipwreck—caused by the eponymous tempest—brings enemies to the island, the stage is set for comedy, romance, and reconciliation. The Tempest embodies both seemingly timeless romance and the historically specific moment in which Europe began to explore and conquer the New World. Its poetic beauty, complexity of thought, range of characters—from the spirit Ariel and the monster Caliban to the beautiful Miranda and her prince Ferdinand—and exploration of difficult questions that still haunt us today make this play wonderfully compelling.

Public Domain (P)2002 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Growing Up & Facts of Life Humorous Fiction Literature & Fiction Fiction Growing Up Shakespeare Comedy Stranded

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Twelfth Night cover art
Romeo and Juliet cover art
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Dramatised) cover art
A Midsummer Night's Dream cover art
Timon of Athens cover art
As You Like It cover art
Othello (Dramatized) cover art
Hamlet cover art
Macbeth cover art
Twelfth Night cover art
Hamlet cover art
Hamlet cover art
Much Ado About Nothing cover art
The Winter's Tale cover art
The Comedy of Errors cover art
The Taming of the Shrew cover art

Featured article: 50+ timeless Shakespeare quotes


Immerse yourself in these Shakespeare quotes to dive into the comedies and tragedies penned by the Bard of Avon. From knock-knock jokes to the wild goose chase, we owe many of our most-used and best-loved phrases to the talent of the Bard. His words are timeless in their direct wisdom, their witty humour, and their surprising applicability to modern life. We’ve collected some of our favourite William Shakespeare quotes for when you want to think about life’s big questions, wax poetic on the nature of love, or just need a good laugh.

Featured article 50+ timeless Shakespeare quotes
All stars
Most relevant  
The voices are clear and the story is at a good pace. I particularly liked the portayal òf Prospero, Miranda, Alonso and Caliban too. I didn't like the distortion on Ariels voice and found neither Stephano or Trinculo very inspiring.
Ferdinand and Antonio were OK.
music was excellent throughout and the Bowson had a great cameo and nearly sole the show but for Prospero's final speech, which I loved.

A Fun production - good for young people.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The performances were a bit too wild for me as some of the voices didn’t make the text very easy to take in and the sound effects, while fun, were very loud and distracting. I couldn’t listen to this at night as it was too loud and dramatic. Fun though.

Very hard to take in

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was on my tbr for quite awhile and I just needed motivation to read it. I'm glad a reading challenge got me do it.
It does take awhile to get use to Shakespearean English, and there was no way to speed up and understanding it. I would highly recommend reading and listening simultaneously as the narration is not only great but the special effects are fun. That said, there is no way to follow it on audio alone as the special effects are a bit overwhelming and there is no way to know who is who.
Great play, free on ku and plus catalogue audible.

Delightful but difficult to follow.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The audiobook version of this play is very entertaining. It has a whole cast, sound effects and music. I felt thoroughly entertained by the voice actors, even if it was somewhat confusing at times. I found it harder to understand Shakespeare when it was read to me rather than when I read it myself. The character changes and the scene settings were sometimes difficult to decipher when the audio version has omitted the setting descriptions, character names and stage directions.

Overall I would recommend this audiobook as it was amusing and quick to listen to.

Thoroughly entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Tempest is my first delve into Shakespeare and definitely won’t be my last I thoroughly enjoyed this and am looking forward to more of the same it’s a wonderful light hearted story full of humour I totally recommend you to listen 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A Shakespearean Virgin

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A crew of men are shipwrecked on a magical island and tormented by an old man and his slaves.

Liked it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This tickle my funnybone. And I enjoy islands and legendary beings.🏝 And sweet eh.

A Seafaring Comical Tale

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
very difficult to listen to..
The incessant background sounds are louder than the actors lines and in many parts you can barely hear the script or which character is speaking.

Shakespeare's plays in general do not translate well to audio because unlike in theatre or on text you have no idea which character is talking unless the narrator is able to provide a clear distinction in tone & dialect between the characters.
This one is particularly bad because, even taking into account the aforementioned noise, the narrator/actors all sound identical.
I gave up early due to this confusion.

Ruined by unnecessary backing music and noise.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sound effects and voice distortions spoil the performance. It is also an abridged version.

Performance spoiled by sound effects

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.