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King Lear
- Narrated by: Paul Scofield, Alec McCowen, Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
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Publisher's summary
The tragedy of King Lear receives an outstanding performance in an all-star cast led by Britain’s senior classical actor, Paul Scofield. He is joined by Alec McCowen as Gloucester, Kenneth Branagh as The Fool, Harriet Walter as Gonerill, Sara Kestelman as Regan and Emilia Fox as Cordelia. This is the 9th recording of Shakespeare plays undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press, and is directed by John Tydeman. It was released to mark the 80th birthday of Paul Scofield in January 2002.
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Featured Article: All the World's a Stage—The Best Shakespeare Plays in Audio
If there’s one writer whose work translates spectacularly to audio format, it’s the Bard. Hearing Shakespeare’s dialog masterfully performed by professionals with the correct emphasis and tone can make all the difference in catching every clever joke and innuendo, picking up on subtle foreshadowing, and sometimes even understanding the plot itself. Here are our choices for the best Shakespeare audiobooks to add to your library today.
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Lear
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Falstaff brooks no rebuttal.
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Waverley by Sir Walter Scott is an enthralling tale of love, war and divided loyalties. Taking place during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, the novel tells the story of proud English officer Edward Waverley. After being posted to Dundee, Edward eventually befriends chieftain of the Highland Clan Mac-Ivor and falls in love with his beautiful sister Flora. He then renounces his former loyalties in order actively to support Scotland in open rebellion against the Union with England. The book depicts stunning, romantic panoramas of the Highlands.
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Loved it
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Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb is a retelling of 20 of Shakespeare’s most beloved stories. Within the pages of this book, the 19th-century authors bring to life the Shakespearean plots and characters of another age in an easy-to-understand prose of a newer generation.
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Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, a hidalgo who reads so many chivalric novels that he decides to set out to revive chivalry, under the name Don Quixote. This is the story that a Nobel Prize Committee survey of one hundred of the world's best writers named "the greatest book of all time."
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A wonderful, magical listen
- By K on 12-01-13
By: Miguel de Cervantes, and others
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The Plays of Sophocles
- Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone
- By: Sophocles
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Sophocles was born at Colonus, near Athens in about 496 BC and is considered to be one of the premier playwrights of Greek tragedy. His stories may have been filled with strife, but Sophocles himself was prosperous and came from a good family. It is said that he was handsome, wealthy, and a highly respected citizen of Athens. During his life, he wrote over 120 plays and was instrumental in how plays would eventually be performed, including the addition of stage props.
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Bad Dialogue
- By Zoe Olvera on 08-12-18
By: Sophocles
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The Decameron
- By: Giovanni Boccaccio
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Gunnar Cauthery, Alison Pettitt, and others
- Length: 28 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio's answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante's Divine Comedy.
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Not Up to the Usual Naxos Standard
- By John on 11-15-17
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The Misanthrope
- By: Molière, Richard Wilbur - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Bedford, J. D. Cullum, Sarah Drew, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 50 mins
- Original Recording
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This timeless comedy of manners is considered one of Molière's most probing and mature works. While it's still an exemplar of 17th century farce, Molière went beyond his usual comic inventiveness to create a world of rich, complex characters, especially in the cynical title character Alceste, played here by the Tony Award-winning actor Brian Bedford.
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Good play, great translation, good performance
- By Timoteo on 03-08-18
By: Molière, and others
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Oroonoko
- By: Aphra Behn
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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A vivid love story and adventure tale, Oroonoko is a heroic slave narrative about a royal prince and his fight for freedom. The eponymous hero, Oroonoko, deemed royalty in one world and slave in another, is torn from his noble status and betrayed into slavery in Surinam, where he is reduced to chains, fetters, and shackles. But his high spirit and admirable character will not be suppressed.
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Outstanding Narration, Story Less So
- By Carsley on 07-14-18
By: Aphra Behn
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The Talisman
- By: Sir Walter Scott
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Talisman revolves around the Third Crusader's camp in the Holy Land whereby there exists a truce between the Christians and the Muslims. The camp, which is led by King Richard I of England (the Lion-heart) who is grievously ill, is being torn apart by tensions between rival leaders.
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a simple story but a joy to listen to
- By Adele Lemmon on 08-23-19
By: Sir Walter Scott
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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Keith Moore, Toby Leonard Moore, Colin McPhillamy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
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WOW
- By Mitchell Drimmer on 02-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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Medea
- By: Euripides
- Narrated by: Jonathan Waters
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the "barbarian" kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason; she finds her position in the Greek world threatened as Jason leaves her for a Greek princess of Corinth. Medea takes vengeance on Jason by murdering Jason's new wife as well as her own children, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life.
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Great Narrator makes this story work
- By cosmitron on 08-02-18
By: Euripides
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This isn’t the creator’s fault but if you have a hearing loss you probably won’t be able to enjoy this collection
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Great way to understand Shakespeare
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tragedy par excellence
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All of the Shakespeare plays within the Argo Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.
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Great collection marred by a few missing sections
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The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
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Canadian bookseller Alex Graham is a middle-age widower whose quiet life is turned upside down when his college-age son disappears without any explanation or trace of where he has gone. With minimal resources, the father begins a long journey that takes him away from his safe and orderly world for the first time.
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Hamlet: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
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Hamlet, Shakespeare's most popular, and perhaps most puzzling play, follows the form of a "revenge tragedy", in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father’s murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of its fascination, however, lies in its uncertainties. This new full-cast recording - based on the most respected edition of Shakespeare's classic - expertly produced by the Folger Theatre, is perfect for students, teachers, and the everyday listener.
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Loved the voice actors
- By Kenni on 11-25-15
What listeners say about King Lear
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- D. A. Elliott
- 11-25-19
Ripeness is all…
To any who listen to this tale, who hear it deep in their hearts, I sincerely wish the courage necessary to bear it well. Linger with the language and make good use of the ability to back up and hear a line, a scene, again. The play is difficult to hear, difficult to see, and I am amazed to imagine how difficult to write.
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- Darwin8u
- 11-01-17
This cold night will turn us all to fools & madmen
I think it was necessary for me to re-discover this when Trump is president. I might just need to read it every year until 2021. Anyway, I'm not done with this review, but need to sit in the rain a bit and think about it. Push my toes into the mud and think about mortality a bit. It certainly isn't a play I would have related to well in my twenties or even thirties, but as my parents age and as I age myself, I see the shadows of mortality approach. The certainty of youth, and the boldness of decades past are now gone. Replaced with, not madness no, an ache in the brain and those vain whispers that promise all is not lost and everything lasts.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Hardin
- 11-25-11
An Adult Opportunity
Great to hear as a middle adult with aging parents and young adult children. What is the legacy of care that we want to leave? I am working on reading and listening to literature that we read as adolescents and young adults which were really meant for a later stage of emotional and intellectual development. This was a good one. Les Miserable, unabridged, was another.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Dr. Kevin Lancer
- 05-18-14
Good but volume kept changing
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
no. Too difficut to follow the charactors
Which scene was your favorite?
I liked the sound effects.
Any additional comments?
The voices volume kept changing so It was difficult to keep listening.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 06-28-19
Sublime!
Scofield is an eminent King Lear. King Lear is a great play - still relevant in the world of today. There is deep meaning in the interplay between madness and sanity. We live in a strange world where sanity is under pressure by unrealistic expectations - and Lear shows us how destructive this power is.
Please enjoy and learn.
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- Denise Longo
- 01-13-16
Scofield is legenday!
Excellent sound quality and great acting. Well worth it! They cut the trial scene in act three scene six, so that was a little disappointing but otherwise great production.
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- Michelle L.
- 07-19-15
Annoying
I suffered through the whole book, but found myself annoyed by the performances, especially the king who would let out the most annoying moans and screams at a volume that was jarring and disruptive. What might work on the stage did does not necessarily work for an audio book.
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- zachary
- 03-01-14
No life in this Lear.
What disappointed you about King Lear?
Any production of the play King Lear is anchored in the performance of Lear, and in this production I found the brilliant actor, Paul Scoffield's Lear to be lacking. I have listened many times to the Arkangel version with Trevor Peacock and is greatly more taking and engaging, as he plays Lear with some fire.
Paul Scoffield is a great actor and has done some great Lear's but this I fear this is not one of them. (There is a hard to get movie that he made which I found to be quite engaging (youtube)). In this audio-production, he has not life, no animation. In the opening scenes when Lear is throwing a tantrum, Scoffield's Lear barely raised his voice. It is if he was just mouthing the words.
The other characters that make the play are Lord and servant Kent as well as The Fool. In this production the character who plays Kent is good, but once again lacks the fire of the performance by Anton Lesser in the Arkangel production.
The actors who play Lear's daughters do a good job and it is interesting to hear the different take they give the parts than their counter parts with the Arkangel production. Both I find equally engaging though they are different interpretations of the characters.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Kent is one of the most engaging and interesting characters outside of Lear.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?
Trevor Peacock as Lear.
What character would you cut from King Lear?
what kind of question is this? Shakespeare wrote the play with the characters it has, and none seemed superfluous. Why would one want to take a character out. It would be a different story then.
Any additional comments?
Each production of Shakespeare's play is an interpretation and the success lies with the actors and their performance. Not every production is guaranteed to be good, even if it has a giant of acting such as Paul Scoffield. One must I think listen to more than one version to get a real feel for the play.
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- Joseph Scarnici
- 01-06-13
Horribly read
I was excited to get the story of King Lear but this sounds like it was recorded from the audience of a play. The voices were too many and I just couldn't follow it because of the hushed tones and bad audio.
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- Charlotte Aycock Mchale
- 11-06-18
Not the Full, Unabridged Version
I got all the way to Act IV before this version left out an entire scene.
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5 people found this helpful