The Essential Shakespeare Live (British Library) (2 CD Set) [Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

The British Library (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2006

The British Library and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) join forces to publish this remarkable audio treasury of live Shakespearian performances. Selected from an extensive collection of recordings made by the British Library Sound Archive, these two double CD sets offer scenes and speeches from some of the most celebrated Shakespeare productions in the history of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The extracts cover almost half a century of productions, from Laurence Olivier as Coriolanus in 1959 to Ian McKellen as King Lear in 2007.  Both Essential Shakespeare Live and Essential Shakespeare Encore! also include booklets that reproduce the play-text of each recorded extract in full along with introductions by Gregory Doran, Chief Association Director of the RSC.

            Essential Shakespeare Live features such notable actors of stage and screen as Judi Dench, Peter Brook, John Barton, Peggy Ashcroft, Alan Howard, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman, Anthony Sher, Donald Sinden, Robert Stephens, Patrick Stewart, Janet Suzman, and David Warner.  Among the plays included in the set are King Lear, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, All’s Well that Ends Well, Henry V, and Richard III.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bravos all round to the Royal Shakespeare Company and the British Library Sound Archive past and present for this tantalizing selection of brief scenes culled from recorded performances by an ultimate all-star cast. Doran, associate director of the RSC, begins with Olivier as Coriolanus at Stratford in 1959 and moves into the '60s with Scofield as Lear, David Warner as Hamlet, Ashcroft as Queen Margaret in The War of the Roses. The '70s finds a young, round-faced Patrick Stewart as Cassius, Janet Suzman as Cleopatra and McKellen and Francesca Annis as Romeo and Juliet. In the '80s, Derek Jacobi plays Prospero, Alan Rickman is Jacques in As You Like It and Brian Cox does Titus Andronicus. In the '90s, Robert Stephens as Falstaff and David Oyelowo as Henry VI lead to a glorious finish with Dench as Countess Rossillion in All's Well That Ends Well at a 2003 Stratford performance. Sound quality is not uniform throughout, but thumps and bumps and audience responses add to the excitement of live performances. The companion booklet is essential reading, as wonderful as these scenes are, since none are introduced or identified on the discs. The photos illuminate the proceedings but leave one wanting more. Theater buffs, schools and libraries will all applaud this treat and should demand encores. (Jan.)
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Review

"What a treasure trove these discs prove for lovers of Shakespare and great acting. . . . I cannot recommend them too highly to anyone who loves Shakespeare."—Telegraph (UK)

(Telegraph )

"It''s fascinating to listen to. You can hear the changes, across the decades, in how actors read their lines (more freely these days), and in how the audience reacts (more vocal now). You also get a sense of the glorious plasticity of Shakespeare''s material, how much it can change in different hands."--Sam Leith, Guardian

(Guardian )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: British Library (January 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712305246
• ISBN-13: 978-0712305242
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,176,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For collectors, February 6, 2007

By 

Gloriana (Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Shakespeare Live (British Library) (2 CD Set) (Audio CD)

It's a cd for collectors. You can almost hear all the 'legends' of British Theatre: Judi Dench, Lorens Olivier, Paul Scofield.