Derek Hunter
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'Tis Pity She's a Whore
- A BBC Radio Full-Cast Production
- By: John Ford
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley, full cast, Damien Molony
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Original Recording
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With its shocking portrayal of incest, intrigue and murder, this powerful Jacobean revenge drama scandalised audiences when it was first performed in the 1620s and it is still controversial today. When siblings Giovanni and Annabella embark on a passionate affair, Annabella falls pregnant with her brother's child. Knowing she must marry to protect her honour, she chooses one of the many suitors clamouring for her hand - but when her secret is revealed, the lovers are caught up in a bloody chain of events that culminate in a poisoning, a blinding, a stabbing and a brutal massacre.
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Beautifully performed but cut to the bone
- By Tad Davis on 10-05-21
- 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
- A BBC Radio Full-Cast Production
- By: John Ford
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley, full cast, Damien Molony
Masterpiece of a play
Reviewed: 09-20-24
Yes the play has been cut by about an hour and so there’s obviously a lot lost here - reading 'Tis Pity is better - and the play definitely deserves a production available online of its full length with an even better cast and director, but still this is a very well done radio version of 'Tis Pity. The actors get their characters right, the pacing works, the director and scene slasher (writer who cut so much out) do a good job at bringing it together. This production is also better than the drastically cut BBC radio productions of Middleton and Webster’s plays as well as a lot of Shakespeare BBC radio productions in recent years. This is especially good to listen to for folks new to the author, John Ford. Highly recommend this and if you like it, read the play in its entirety, and other plays by Ford, he was absolutely brilliant.
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The Precarious World of Thomas Nashe
- By: The ’Penniless?’ Project
- Original Recording
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There’s a fairy-tale version of the Elizabethan era: a golden age of long-awaited prosperity, of palaces and pageants, of sea-faring exploration - all of it presided over by a spectacular queen governing alongside wise counsellors. There’s a lot this story misses out. Elizabethan England was also an anxious, paranoid place; its last full decade, the 1590s, saw increasing food prices, plague, and profiteering by the wealthy. One writer in particular explored what it felt like to be living on the edge. Thomas Nashe isn’t a household name today, but he wrote and published throughout the ...
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Engaging Exploration of Nashe and his Times
- By Derek Hunter on 01-29-24
Engaging Exploration of Nashe and his Times
Reviewed: 01-29-24
This podcast mini-series is excellently well done, thoroughly researched, professionally presented, and very entertaining. It is insightful not only to Thomas Nashe but the times in which he lived. Nashe is primarily used in this series as a window into the cultural, social, economic, literary realities of the period. Highly recommend not only this series but checking out Nashe's work, as well.
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The Duchess of Malfi & The White Devil
- 2 BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Productions
- By: John Webster
- Narrated by: full cast, Shaun Dingwall, Anna Maxwell-Martin, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
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One of the great Jacobean playwrights and a contemporary of William Shakespeare, John Webster is best known for his classic revenge tragedies based on real events in Renaissance Italy, The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil. Both are included here, along with two insightful programmes putting the plays in their historical context and probing the life of their mysterious author - a shadowy character about whom very little is known.
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unsuitable for children
- By Maria K. on 03-16-23
- The Duchess of Malfi & The White Devil
- 2 BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Productions
- By: John Webster
- Narrated by: full cast, Shaun Dingwall, Anna Maxwell-Martin, Pippa Nixon, Shaun Dooley, Frances de la Tour, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Jude Akuwudike
Webster was a genius
Reviewed: 04-13-23
Webster's The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil have taken a long time to be fully appreciated and we are still probably not really there yet.
Starting in the 20th century, these two plays, in particular the Duchess of Malfi, have appealed not only to scholars, but theater directors, actors, especially women actors, and audiences.
The plays are vivid, brutal, beautiful, alive, morally complex, horrific, inspiring, the characters three dimensional, the vision startling modern.
Some scholars say Webster is one of the greatest dramatists in the English language, and even some prefer Webster to Shakespeare, such as the two great actresses interviewed in the Roleplay episode section to this Audible collection, Eleanor Bron and Juliet Stevenson (truly an amazing interview, must listen to! Eleanor Bron in particular is great in her understanding of Webster!).
The production here of The Duchess of Malfi is unfortunately not very good, not horrible, but not as good as it should be. The text has been cut a great deal, so that the play moves along too quickly and you don't engage with the characters and story like one should.
The modern music used doesn't work, especially when a guy starts singing a folk song about how amazing the Duchess of Malfi is, as if the audience is too stupid to figure that out themselves.
A much much better production of the play is found on YouTube, from 1972 BBC television starring Eileen Atkins as the Duchess of Malfi and other amazing cast members.
The White Devil production here though on the other hand, is truly brilliant and must be checked out.
The two together, The White Devil production and the interview with Eleanor Bron and Juliet Stevenson, make this "Audible Webster Package" very very much worth the listening to.
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Dubliners
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Donal Donnelly
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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These vivid portraits of the author's native city weave a tapestry of Dublin and its people, yet also poignantly mourn the decline of Irish culture and civilization. Published in 1914, the collection was decried by some as obscene, but Joyce saw the work as "a chapter in the moral history" of Ireland. The stories present a vision of Dublin's claustrophobia and psychological paralysis, but the work's heaviness is balanced by an eccentric assortment of characters and the author's dry, often unexpected humor.
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Donal Donnelly is THE Voice for Joyce
- By Derek Hunter on 03-19-22
- Dubliners
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Donal Donnelly
Donal Donnelly is THE Voice for Joyce
Reviewed: 03-19-22
There simply is no one better to have read a work by James Joyce than Donal Donnelly. If you’ve never read anything (or heard such an Audible production like this) by Joyce before, this is the best place to start. More than any other writer, reading Joyce chronologically is the best path to take. Donnelly captures all the variety of expression from Joyce, his realism, characterization, humor, tenderness, harshness, irony, depth, humanity, criticism, being both detached and engaged. It’s truly a magnificent performance from beginning to end. Enjoy and explore!
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North by Shakespeare
- A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work
- By: Michael Blanding
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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A work of gripping nonfiction, North by Shakespeare presents the twinning narratives of rogue scholar Dennis McCarthy, called "the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community", and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source for Shakespeare's plays.
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An exciting investigative adventure
- By Derek Hunter on 10-29-21
- North by Shakespeare
- A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work
- By: Michael Blanding
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
An exciting investigative adventure
Reviewed: 10-29-21
Speaking as someone who has been passionate about the plays and poems of Shakespeare since my teens (30 years), and about as long equally engaged in the Shakespeare Authorship Question, this is truly a spellbinding book. I've read many books, essays, articles, watched many videos, documentaries, presentations, lectures on the SAQ, and changed my position on the various candidates over the decades, seeing the Stratfordian, Oxfordian, Marlovian cases, and others such as Neville's, Stanley's, and others, as having many good, persuasive arguments. There have been many brilliant people arguing for these candidates, Ros Barber and Peter Farey for Marlowe, Roger Stritmatter and Mark Anderson for Oxford, Brenda James and William Rubenstein for Henry Neville, Stephen Greenblatt and Anthony Burgess for the man from Stratford, John Raithel and James Greenstreet for William Stanley, and more. And yet, despite all of their arguments, it is hard to deny the strong possibility that what Dennis McCarthy has done with the brilliant help of his two collaborators, Michael Blanding (the author of this book) and June Schlueter (co-author of North's 1555 Travel Journal), just might have put forth a greater and more convincing argument than any previous Biographer of the Bard. In addition for the case that McCarthy makes for North's contribution, Blanding's writing in North by Shakespeare is absolutely spellbinding. Following two narratives that parallel each other - 1) McCarthy's journey to prove North's contribution to The Canon, including a very engaging narrative of their physical journey through Europe with McCarthy's daughter following with her documentary crew (a forthcoming doc that I am definitely looking forward to seeing), and 2) North's life and times. Blanding brilliantly goes back and forth between the two adventures of North's life in 16th century England and mainland Europe to McCarthy's journey of the last 15 years, the two narratives balancing and adding significance to each other in extremely engaging ways. As someone who has been open to changing my position when looking at new evidence and new arguments (unlike many in the debate, both Stratfordians and Anti-Stratfordians alike) and yet also continuing my deep enthusiasm in the SAQ, reading this book and listening to this Audible narration of it, I absolutely had a difficult time staying away from either, and have come away feeling that North was the true author of the Shakespeare Canon. Read the book or listen to this Audible production to find out why, along with checking out McCarthy's site on North and read the book by McCarthy and Schlueter about the 1555 Travel Journal by North. Take a look for yourself for North's case, the case for Marlowe, the case for Oxford, the case for Neville, the case for Stanley, the case for the Stratford man or anyone else, and come to your own conclusions. What is undeniable is that North has now become just as strong a candidate as any of them, if not more so. For I, after serious consideration, feel strongly that North (and unlike McCarthy, North alone, without the help of the Stratford man) was The True Bard. Enjoy and explore!
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53 people found this helpful
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Don Quixote
- By: John Ormsby - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 36 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The most influential work of the entire Spanish literary canon and a founding work of modern Western literature, Don Quixote is also one of the greatest works ever written. Hugely entertaining but also moving at times, this episodic novel is built on the fantasy life of one Alonso Quixano, who lives with his niece and housekeeper in La Mancha. Quixano, obsessed by tales of knight errantry, renames himself ‘Don Quixote’ and with his faithful servant Sancho Panza, goes on a series of quests.
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More than funny
- By Colin on 08-21-11
- Don Quixote
- By: John Ormsby - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
Greatest of all novels indeed
Reviewed: 08-17-21
Don Quixote books one and two comprise the great achievement in the novel form. Being the first modern novel (with even post-modern elements to it as well), it’s first and far most a beautiful story of profound humor. But even while it pokes fun at the two main characters from beginning to end it also remains enormously sympathetic to them from beginning to end. As with the works of Shakespeare, Don Quixote explores and plays with the nuances of contradictory views, ambiguity, and double-sided truths. Nothing is as it seems, it’s a celebration of so many things, and one thing that it celebrates which often gets overlook is the celebration of Doubt, of agnosticism, not simply about the existence of God, but of everything.
This audio version is THE best one you will find, far and away, no other actor does a better job at capturing ALL the elements to the story. Listen and enjoy.
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Henry VI, Part 1
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: David Tennant, Kelly Hunter, Clive Merrison, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
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The all-conquering King Henry V is dead, and the throne is occupied by his infant son, Henry VI. The good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester has been appointed protector, but a struggle for power soon develops between the young king's Lancastrian relatives and the powerful house of York under Richard Plantagenet. Meanwhile the French, led by Joan of Arc, the maid of Orleans, threaten to win back the territories lost to Henry V.
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Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men
- By Darwin8u on 01-22-17
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: David Tennant, Kelly Hunter, Clive Merrison, Norman Rodway, Isla Blair
Excellent production of early Shakespeare play
Reviewed: 10-29-20
While not in any shape or form one of Shakespeare's best, it is still brilliant and this is an excellent production. This could be one of Shakespeare's worst plays and yet still very enjoyable and full of human drama.
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1 person found this helpful
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Ulysses
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Donal Donnelly
- Length: 42 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The first authorized, unabridged release of this timeless classic and exclusively available from Recorded Books. Ulysses records the events of a single day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin, Ireland.
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Ulysses is Life
- By Dan Harlow on 08-02-13
- Ulysses
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Donal Donnelly
Absolute Perfection
Reviewed: 07-11-20
No one is better than Donal Donnelly at reading James Joyce. Capturing Joyce’s deep humanity along with ironic wit as well as having extreme comfort in the language, Donnelly brings every sentence, every character, every passage, every episode (except the last, which was beautifully narrated by an Irish actress who is not credited unfortunately) to exuberant life. Enjoy and explore!
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