Antony and Cleopatra (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare) [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

William Shakespeare (Author), Various (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999 | Series: Arkangel Complete Shakespeare

Regarded as one of Shakespeare's finest tragedies, this is a complex and moving account of a passionate love affair between a great general and the wily, capricious queen of Egypt. Antony and Cleopatra explores the constant and eternal struggle between the private and the public and the personal and the political.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

Arkangel, which intends to produce all 38 of Shakespeare's plays, presents one of Shakespeare's tragedies, which concerns the struggle between the desire for a woman and the duty of politics. The cast consists of gifted British film and theater actors. This dramatic performance is faithful to Shakespeare's text, and the actors are excellent; it is no mere reading of the text. But while there is never a moment when one has to strain to hear the words of a performer, the play is not easy to follow without the text. The use of Scottish and cockney accents for some of the characters takes some time to adjust to, but in the end it works. M.L.C. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Arkangel; Unabridged edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140869433
• ISBN-13: 978-0140869439
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,997,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Shakespeare, William

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent entry in the Arkangel Shakespeare series, March 6, 2000

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Antony and Cleopatra (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare) (Audio Cassette)

Many decades ago, there was an excellent and elegant reading of the complete text of <Antony and Cleopatra> on Decca/London labels with Richard Johnson and Mary Morris in the title roles. Then came the better-paced Shakespeare Recording Society with Anthony Quayle and Pamela Brown, recently reissued on cassettes by Harper Audio. And now we have the liveliest of them all as part of the Arkangel Complete Shakespeare Series, issued by Penguin Books this side of the Atlantic.

With the older set long out of print, the Arkangel certainly has the most appeal to modern listeners, giving as it does less a reading than the sounds of an actual production. The Antony of Ciaran Hinds does not quite come up to the poetical reading that is Quayle's, while Estelle Kohler's Queen of the Nile is a bit juicier than the more dryly delivered one of Brown. But both partners are really fabulous on their own terms and both performances are well worth having side by side in your collection.

The Arkangel set does make some strange use of regional accents. Perhaps they are strange only to American ears (viz., mine), but it continues to be a bit jarring to hear Scottish accents on Roman soldiers. On the other hand, the use of Cockney for the lower classes has become an accepted tradition on British recordings, so perhaps we can grow accustomed to anything, given enough time and understanding.

Teachers should take note, however, that classes will probably respond better to this new, more dramatized version despite a little loss in the grand old style of poetic declamation.