-
The Taming of the Shrew
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Frances Barber, Roger Allam, Alan Cox
- Length: 2 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
Love and wit conquer all in Shakespeare's sparkling comedy of self-delusion and disguise.
Padua holds many suitors for the hand of fair Bianca, but Bianca may not be married until her spinster sister, Kate, is wed. Could any man be rash enough to take on Kate?
The witty adventurer Petruchio undertakes the task. While he sets about transforming Kate from foul-tempered termagant to loving wife, young Lucentio and his clever servant, Tranio, plot to win Bianca.
Frances Barber and Roger Allam are Kate and Petruchio. Lucentio is played by Alan Cox.
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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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Tales from Shakespeare
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The Taming of the Shrew
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Kiss me, Kate, we will be married o'Sunday
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Tales from Shakespeare
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Don Quixote
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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
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Great way in
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Shakespeare by Another Name
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Falstaff is both a comic and tragic central protagonist in Shakespeare's three Henry plays. He is companion to Prince Hal (the future Henry V), who loves him, goads him, teases him, indulges his vast appetites, and commits all sorts of mischief with him. Award-winning author and esteemed professor Harold Bloom examines Falstaff with the deepest compassion and sympathy and also with unerring wisdom. He uses the relationship between Falstaff and Hal to explore the devastation of severed bonds and the heartbreak of betrayal.
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Falstaff brooks no rebuttal.
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Story
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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Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World
- By: Leo Damrosch
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Jonathan Swift is best remembered today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, the satiric fantasy that quickly became a classic and has remained in print for nearly three centuries. Yet Swift also wrote many other influential works, was a major political and religious figure in his time, and became a national hero, beloved for his fierce protest against English exploitation of his native Ireland. What is really known today about the enigmatic man behind these accomplishments? Can the facts of his life be separated from the fictions?
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JOHNATHAN SWIFT AND POWER OF THE PEN
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 09-30-14
By: Leo Damrosch
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Don Quixote
- By: Tobias Smollett - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Don Quixote, the world's first novel and by far the best-known book in Spanish literature, was originally intended by Cervantes as a satire on traditional popular ballads, yet he also parodied the romances of chivalry. By happy coincidence he produced one of the most entertaining adventure stories of all time and, in Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, two of the greatest characters in fiction.
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A MUST READ CLASSIC
- By Randall on 04-25-09
By: Tobias Smollett - translator, and others
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Joseph Andrews
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In one of the first novels in the English language, we follow the picaresque adventures of Joseph Andrews, a virtuous young man who is keen to maintain his innocence despite being coerced by nearly every woman he encounters.
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Action and Ideas
- By John on 01-27-20
By: Henry Fielding
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Candide (AudioGO Edition)
- By: Voltaire
- Narrated by: Jack Davenport
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When first published in 1759, Candide became an instant best seller and is now regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. Voltaire’s preoccupations with evil and with various kinds of human folly and intolerance found a perfect vehicle in this philosophical tale. A master storyteller, he combined often wildly entertaining action with profoundly serious sense, parodying the traditional chivalric and oriental tales with which his public was more familiar.
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Guaranteed to keep you smiling if not LOL
- By Robert on 08-09-12
By: Voltaire
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Don Quixote
- By: Miguel de Cervantes, Gerald J. Davis - translator
- Narrated by: John Hanks
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
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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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Joseph Andrews
- The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: Rufus Sewell
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Riotous, sexy and groundbreaking, Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews: The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams, published in 1742, was one of the first English novels. Fielding was melding and parodying the two major forces battling for control of the fiction market at the time - the mock heroic, neoclassical tradition as practiced by Pope and Swift and the popular and populist fiction of the new novelists such as Defoe and Richardson.
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A perfect reader for Henry Fielding
- By TiffanyD on 07-27-17
By: Henry Fielding
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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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Tales from Shakespeare
- The Lambs' Tales (Puffin Classics)
- By: Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb, William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Nigel Davenport, Andrew Sachs, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A perfect introduction for all ages to the breadth and beauty of Shakespeare's work, Tales from Shakespearehas become a classic work in its own right. The tales bring vividly alive the power of Hamlet and Macbeth, the fun of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the drama of The Tempest. Blending detailed narrative with original dialogue and poetic language, they fully convey the wit, wisdom, and imagination of Shakespeare's magnificent plays.
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Not all of the stories
- By GPH on 08-22-18
By: Charles Lamb, and others
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Lear
- The Great Image of Authority
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare's most moving, tragic hero. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character.
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Bloom being Bloom
- By C. Yuen on 10-05-23
By: Harold Bloom
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Well played!
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Heartbreaking
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Shakespeare is rolling in his grave.
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Live in thy heart, die in thy lap
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Great Dramatization!
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Between the comedy of a gaggle of men running around wildly to attempt to wed Bianca and the over-the-top portrayal of Katherina’s “taming”, The Taming of the Shrew is a humorous play that offers a fascinating look at the 16th century’s views on women, marriage, and domesticity.
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As You Like It
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Can't bother with a title
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Shakespeare's most sophisticated comedy is a riotous tale of hopelessly unrequited passions and mistaken identity. Duke Orsino is in love with the noblewoman Olivia. She, however, has fallen for his servant Cesario, who is actually Viola, a woman disguised as a man, who loves Orsino: Confusion is rife. Meanwhile, Olivia's arrogant steward Malvolio is cruelly tricked by her uncle Sir Toby Belch, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and the maidservant Maria into believing his mistress loves him.
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If you be not mad, be gone
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Might want to Read Along
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Julius Caesar has become the most powerful man in the Rome. Does his power now threaten the very existence of the Republic itself? A conspiracy is hatched, one that will have fatal consequences not only for Caesar and the conspirators but for the future history of the ancient world.
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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
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Julius Caesar
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The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection, brings Julius Caesar to life with this new full-length, full-cast dramatic recording of its definitive Folger Edition.
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good play, difficult to distinguish characters
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A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
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In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love in unexpected ways. In the woods outside Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves into couples - but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another. The king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy. Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, in an effort to distract Titania from the custody battle.
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wow
- By Giovanni Panaro on 02-15-19
What listeners say about The Taming of the Shrew
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-28-22
Great homework help
It was very helpful to understand and get through my assignments. Great performances wonderful actors
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1 person found this helpful
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- Peter Mc Cafferty
- 07-02-24
A mixed bag
The play is what it is. The principals here are mostly quite good but some of the actors voicing lesser characters make needlessly distracting choices that one wishes the director would have restrained (H-h-hortensio I'm looking at you...).
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- Alex
- 03-21-17
great
I like the book it helped me for school since we were to read during school.
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3 people found this helpful
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- C. Defnall
- 02-22-17
Loved it!
Great multi actor performance! True to the script. A great option if you can't see the play in person.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Matt
- 07-08-18
Well done
The actors and music was wonderful! The entire production legitly made if fell like i was actually there. Well done!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Debra and Nate (Parents of 9)
- 08-18-22
So good
It was well played and well preformed. Loved every single minute. I will definitely listen to more.
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- S. Riggs
- 01-06-18
Very well done!
This is my favorite Shakespeare play. I love this performance. It's so easy to get lost in the play and lose track of time. I highly recommend this audio version!
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7 people found this helpful
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- Alexander Andro
- 01-14-23
Classic
The banter and wit is superb, voice recording clear, performances well directed.
This play gets a lot of undeserved hate. It's one of his best comedies. You may find it therapeutic.
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- Tad Davis
- 01-24-15
Problem play
The Taming of the Shrew is another early Shakespeare play, and it's one that makes me distinctly uncomfortable - maybe even more so than The Merchant of Venice, another "problem play."
It is, in my opinion, a misogynistic play. The spirited Kate has a few moments of tenderness with her crazy husband Petruchio, but only after she's been starved, deprived of sleep, and forced to debase herself in front of others. (To his credit, he never actually hits her, but that's setting the bar pretty low.) Many productions try to get around the implications by making it all seem ironic, but I've never been able to find that irony in the text.
(One of Shakespeare's fellow playwrights seemed to think the same thing, and wrote a sequel called The Tamer Tamed: Petruchio's second wife turns the tables on him.)
Not much irony in this production either; it's played straight. The cast is, as usual, first-rate, although Frances Barber is sometimes a little too shrill as Kate; granted the character is described repeatedly as a shrew, but there's shrewishness that's funny and shrewishness that's just unpleasant.
The other odd thing about the play is the appearance and disappearance of the "framing story" involving Christopher Sly. Shakespeare sets it up and then abandons it after a couple of scenes. Another play from the period provides a few other scenes with Sly, including an epilogue that neatly ties up the loose ends. Many recent productions, if they include the framing story at all, add these scenes. I suspect they were written by Shakespeare and intended to be part of the play, but Arkangel sticks to their guns (and their stated purpose) and omits them.
Not one of the more satisfying entries in the series, but the fault is mostly Shakespeare's.
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9 people found this helpful
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- H. Chandler
- 02-22-15
Great performance, conflicted about storyline
First off, the performance was spectacular. I enjoyed the different tone and reading the actors brought. That said, I really think this play reflects more of a misogynist view point than I can tolerate in a comedy.
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4 people found this helpful