Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1999-10
Dewey code: 822.33
RRP: £9.99
Price: £0.98
Review Twelfth Night (New Cambridge Shakespeare and Naxos Audiobooks) / Naxos AudioBooks:One of Shakespeare's finest comedies, Twelfth Night was written at the same time as Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida, and whilst it shares their fascination with sex, death and confused identities, its exuberant comedy and linguistic inventiveness rises above the introspection of these plays. Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated in a storm, which washes them both up at different points on the shores of Illyria. Believing each other to be dead, both attempt to survive by using their wits. Viola cross-dresses and enters the service of the lovesick Orsino, in love with Olivia, an heiress in mourning for the loss of her brother. Orsino's saucy young page Cesario (Viola) soon falls in love with "his" master, who tells "him", "all is semblative a woman's part". Unfortunately, whilst Viola falls in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with her alter ego, Cesario, whilst also being pursued at the same time by her pompous servant Malvolio. Olivia's house is also turned upside down by the antics of her drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and the whole crazy situation reaches boiling point when Sebastian reappears. Despite the madcap plot, Twelfth Night remains one of Shakespeare's most complex and inventive comedies, fascinated with questions of cross-dressing, gender confusion, language and inversion, as well as retaining a darker edge to some of its laughter. -Jerry Brotton.
Creator: Vanessa Redgrave
Publication date: 1991-11-21
Dewey code: 822
RRP: £10.99
Price: £6.18
Review As You Like It: Complete & Unabridged / HarperCollins Audio:
Creator: et al
Publication date: 2000-07-12
RRP: £8.99
Price: £7.57
Review A Winter's Tale: Unabridged (Arkangel) / Penguin Audiobooks:One of Shakespeare's most haunting and enigmatic late plays, The Winter's Tale is a fine example of Shakespeare's fascination with the dramatic genre of "romance"-the portrayal of magical lands, familial conflict and exile, and final reunion and reconciliation. Drawing on Robert Green's story Pandosto, Shakespeare's play tells the story of the middle-aged Leontes, King of Sicilia, and his childhood friend Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. Leontes mistakenly believes that his friend is having an affair with his wife, Hermione. In his jealousy, and consumed by "tremor cordis", he tries to murder Polixenes, who flees, and accuses his wife of adultery. Hermione gives birth to a baby girl, Perdita, who Leontes denounces as illegitimate, and casts her out into the wilderness. Hermione is ultimately proved innocent, but her son, Mamillius, dies of grief. Hermione collapses, apparently dead, and Leontes is left to pick up the tragic consequences of his actions. Time passes, and the action moves to Bohemia, where the lost child Perdita has grown up a shepherdess in the midst of "great creating nature". The final scenes of the play draw towards resolution and reconciliation between Leontes, Hermione and their lost daughter, culminating in one of Shakespeare's most moving final scenes. One of Shakespeare's most consummate plays, The Winter's Tale is a fascinating study of male insecurity and the relations between art and nature. [+]-Jerry Brotton.
Publication date: 1978
Dewey code: 808
RRP: £6.95
Price: £5.89
Review Brimstone and Treacle: Play (Acting Edition) / Dennis Potter:
Creator: et al
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1999-05-27
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.10
Review Measure for Measure (Arkangel Audiobooks) / Penguin Audiobooks:
Creator: Paul Scofield
Publication date: 1991-12-05
Dewey code: 822
RRP: £15.99
Price: £6.90
Review King Lear: Complete & Unabridged / HarperCollins Audio:
Creator: John Gielgud
Publication date: 1991-12-05
Dewey code: 822
RRP: £10.99
Price: £7.25
Review Sonnets: Unabridged / HarperCollins Audio:
Publication date: 1994-10-03
Dewey code: 920
Price: £10.99
Review The Lady in the Van/My Uncle Clarence (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:Life imitates art in The Lady in the Van, the story of the itinerant Miss Shepherd, who lived in a van in Alan Bennett's driveway from the early1970s until her death in 1989. It is doubtful that Bennett could have made up the eccentric Miss Shepherd if he tried, but his poignant, funny but unsentimental account of their strange relationship is akin to his best fictional screen writing. Bennett concedes that "One seldom was able to do her a good turn without some thoughts of strangulation", but as the plastic bags build up, the years pass by and Miss Shepherd moves into Bennett's driveway, a relationship is established which defines a certain moment in late 20th-century London life which has probably gone forever. The dissenting, liberal, middle-class world of Bennett and his peers comes into hilarious but also telling collision with the world of Miss Shepherd: "there was a gap between our social position and our social obligations. It was in this gap that Miss Shepherd (in her van) was able to live". Bennett recounts Miss Shepherd's bizarre escapades in his inimitable style, from her letter to the Argentinean Embassy at the height of the Falklands War, to her attempts to stand for Parliament and wangle an electric wheelchair out of the Social Services. Beautifully observed, The Lady in the Van is as notable for Bennett's attempts to uncover the enigmatic history of Miss Shepherd, as it is for its amusing account of her eccentric escapades. -Jerry Brotton.
Publication date: 1990-11-05
Dewey code: 808
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.40
Review Talking Heads (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:Alan Bennett's award-winning series of six television monologues, Talking Heads, may have been first aired in 1988, but over a decade later it is still impossible to read these deeply moving and affectionate scripts without hearing the voices of the actors who played them. Maggie Smith as the alcoholic vicar's wife finding a semblance of happiness in an affair with an Indian shop owner, Patricia Routledge as the poisonous neighbour, Julie Walters as the over-the-hill dolly bird auditioning for a porn film and of course Thora Hird as Doris, the old lady alone in her home having fallen and broken her hip. All great performances and all made possible by Bennett's wonderfully observant and poignant scripts. Bennett rightly notes in his introduction to the pieces that, maybe apart from Doris, his narrators are artless in that they "don't quite know what they are saying and are telling a story to the meaning of which they are not entirely privy". But through their artlessnes they reveal more about Britain today and the stresses and strains placed upon ordinary people, than any number of docu-soaps that now claim to show us real life. -Nick Wroe.
Creator: Eanna MacLiam
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 2002-04
Dewey code: 792.102908
RRP: £6.99
Price: £2.08
Review Port Authority (Classic Drama) / Naxos AudioBooks:
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1990-09-20
Dewey code: 811
RRP: £10.99
Price: £2.25
Review Under Milk Wood: Dylan Thomas & the Original Cast / HarperCollins Audio:
Publication date: 1988-09-12
Dewey code: 808
Price: £11.00
Review Alan Bennett Double Bill: Forty Years On/A Woman of No Importance: Starring Sir John Gielgud and Patricia Routledge (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Creator: Emma Fielding
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 2002-05
Dewey code: 792.102908
RRP: £8.99
Price: £2.24
Review Hedda Gabler (Classic Drama) / Naxos AudioBooks:
Creator: Claire Bloom
Publication date: 1991-11-21
Dewey code: 822
Price: £10.99
Review Romeo and Juliet: Complete & Unabridged / HarperCollins Audio:
Creator: Royal Shakespeare Company
Publication date: 2005-10-26
Dewey code: 822
RRP: £15.95
Price: £2.95
Review The Essential Shakespeare Live: The Royal Shakespeare Company in Performance (British Library) / British Library Publishing Division:
Creator: Richard Griffiths
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1998-10-01
Dewey code: 821
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.00
Review Classic FM Favourite Shakespeare: Performed by Alan Cox & Cast / Hodder & Stoughton Audio Books:
Creator: Becky Simpson
Publication date: 1997-04-07
Price: £7.99
Review Spoonface Steinberg: Starring Becky Simpson as Spoonface (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Creator: Anne-Marie Duff
Publication date: 1999-09-06
Dewey code: 822
RRP: £9.99
Price: £9.95
Review Twelfth Night: A BBC Radio 3 Full-cast Dramatisation. Starring Michael Moloney & Cast (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Creator: Margo Jenkins
Publication date: 2000-08-07
Dewey code: 791
RRP: £10.99
Price: £10.95
Review Under Milk Wood: BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Publication date: 2005-10-10
RRP: £10.99
Price: £1.78
Review Untold Stories - The Diaries: Diaries Pt. 2 / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
| Models & Brands:
Twelfth Night (New Cambridge Shakespeare and Naxos Audiobooks), As You Like It: Complete & Unabridged, A Winter's Tale: Unabridged (Arkangel), Brimstone and Treacle: Play (Acting Edition), Measure for Measure (Arkangel Audiobooks), King Lear: Complete & Unabridged, Sonnets: Unabridged, The Lady in the Van/My Uncle Clarence (BBC Radio Collection), Talking Heads (BBC Radio Collection), Port Authority (Classic Drama), Under Milk Wood: Dylan Thomas & the Original Cast, Alan Bennett Double Bill: Forty Years On/A Woman of No Importance: Starring Sir John Gielgud and Patricia Routledge (BBC Radio Collection), Hedda Gabler (Classic Drama), Romeo and Juliet: Complete & Unabridged, The Essential Shakespeare Live: The Royal Shakespeare Company in Performance (British Library), Classic FM Favourite Shakespeare: Performed by Alan Cox & Cast, Spoonface Steinberg: Starring Becky Simpson as Spoonface (BBC Radio Collection), Twelfth Night: A BBC Radio 3 Full-cast Dramatisation. Starring Michael Moloney & Cast (BBC Radio Collection), Under Milk Wood: BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection), Untold Stories - The Diaries: Diaries Pt. 2Top headlines: Brain food: If it helps gerbils, it could help you: Scientists have figured out how to make gerbils smarter and hope the findings can be applied to you. ›16:27, 3.07 Osborne denies breaking fee rules: Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has dismissed a story that he broke his own party's rules by accepting up to £10,000 for speaking at a conference. ›11:00 Newsweek: 7 facts about your body rhythm: First came the floods now the mosquitoes. An explosion of pesky insects are pestering clean-up crews and just about anyone venturing outside in the waterlogged Midwest. ›20:46, 2.07 Baby otters safe after stroll, stop at pub: Two baby river otters are safely in the care of a wildlife rescue group after a weekend excursion that took them through several Petaluma neighborhoods, including a stop at a local pub. ›15:21, 2.07 Nontraditional tenants filling up vacant malls: Community college classes in the old mall movie theater. A DMV office across from the Starbucks. Maybe a local library between the Victoria's Secret and the Gap. ›18:40, 3.07 Q&A: Policing School Shootings: A disturbed 14-year-old wounds four before killing himself in Clevelandjust another spasm of violence in another bloody year for Americas schools. How to spot trouble before it opens fireand the ongoing debate over blame for a cycle that just wont stop. ›23:25, 11.10 Indulge your inner monarch and rent a castle: If youve read the "King Arthur" legends more times than you can count and your family is worried that you attend too many medieval fairs, it's probably time for a vacation at an honest-to-goodness castle. ›14:28, 3.07 Iran signals no plans to stop nuclear regime: Iran's nuclear program remains unchanged, indicating that Tehran has no plans to meet a key Western demand that it stop enriching uranium. ›17:44, 5.07 Study: Orangutans could face extinction in wild: Orangutan numbers have declined sharply on the only two islands where they still live in the wild and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct if urgent action isn't taken, a new study says. ›13:01, 5.07 Bush puts trade, Africa high on G-8 agenda: U.S. President George W. Bush put advancing world trade talks and increasing aid to Africa high on his agenda Sunday for an upcoming summit of major economic powers that is also expected to focus on energy and climate change. ›11:59 Algae envelop Olympics' sailing site: Officials say they need at least two weeks to clear an algal bloom threatening Olympic sailing events in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao. ›14:21, 30.06 Clift: Why Is Howard Dean So Quiet?: Howard Dean has stayed oddly quiet lately while intraparty squabbling over the Democrats primary calendar escalates. What gives? ›22:25, 12.10 New global standards set for infant formula: A horde of paparazzi are the least of Angelina Jolie's worries these days. It's not easy giving birth to twins. ›16:32, 2.07 Everton footballer's brother kidnapped: Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap the brother of star Nigerian and Everton football player Joseph Yobo, police say. ›21:48, 05.07 SportsBiz: Bull riding goes mainstream: The growth of PBR the bull riding league founded in 1992, not the beer has thrust it into the public consciousness, even if its not yet center stage among pro sports. ›21:29, 2.07 Quake-affected panda gives birth: A panda who was relocated after China's deadly earthquake damaged her home gave birth to twin cubs on Sunday, a state news agency said. ›08:31 U.S. economy lost 62,000 jobs in June: Employers cut payrolls by 62,000 in June, the sixth straight month of nationwide job losses, underscoring the economys fragile state. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent. ›15:08, 3.07 LeBron James, SpongeBob on eco-mission: Basketball star LeBron James has paired up with Nickelodeon, the home of SpongeBob and his ocean-dwelling cartoon chums, to raise awareness about the environment. ›18:25, 2.07 Gellman: A Letter to a Bigot: What I want to say to a person of prejudice. ›22:12, 12.10 West condemns Mugabe, ignores other leaders: Pull up a chair: Seat designed to aid breastfeeding in public ›23:18, 05.07 Saad Hariri on Lebanons Future: Saad Hariri takes up the mantle of his assassinated father, and argues for the world to isolate Syria. ›15:46, 12.10 Piper memories: Wives of offshore rig fire victims recall the tragedy ›00:42, 03.07 Newsweek: Mediterranean tuna face extinction: Mediterranean fishermen are hurting: Stocks of bluefin tuna, by far the sea's most economically important fish, are dangerously low. Although many countries share the blame, the chief culprit, say fisheries experts, is France. ›23:49, 1.07 |
