Shakespeare Classics

A celebration of one of the world's best loved actors, Sir John Gielgud. Here you can hear him perform his classic roles and read some of his favourite poetry.

William Shakespeare's classic comedy of the merciless Shylock, a Jew despised by Christians who gains power over his nemesis after a bond loan goes awry - with the forfeit of the bond being a pound of flesh.

Twin brothers and their twin manservants, separated as infants by a shipwreck and unaware of each other, cross paths in Epheus when they are adults. What could possibly go wrong?

The true story of how the First Folio creators made ‘Shakespeare’. 2023 marks the 400-year anniversary of Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, known today simply as the First Folio. It is difficult to imagine a world without The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, and Macbeth, but these are just some of the plays which were only preserved thanks to the astounding labour of love that went into creating the first collection.

Mai parole più belle uscirono dalla penna di un poeta per raccontarci il contrastato e infinito amore di due giovani, Romeo e Giulietta, rampolli di due famiglie nemiche tra loro nella turbolenta Verona del Trecento. È solo l’amore a muovere le avventurose fila della storia, è l’amore l’unica legge che Giulietta e Romeo vogliono assecondare, la sola origine dei loro pensieri, l’unico sogno per cui valga la pena di vivere.

At this time of the year, as the nights close in and the temperature drops, winter seems like a season that nobody really enjoys, and we look forward all the more to spring. For many children, however, it is the bounty of Christmas that steals their attention, and for others the renewal of the New Year. But for Nature it is a pause for breath, to take stock of what has gone by in the year to date and ready herself for the energies and dramatic development to the landscape that spring will bring.

In this classic Shakespeare tale as adapted for a younger audience by Elaina Garcia, Coriolanus makes his name as a general defending Rome. However, he does not win support of the people as a Roman consul, so he must make other plans. This version is adapted for a younger audience, told in plain English and downplaying some of the more adult themes of the play while remaining true to Shakespeare's plot and intent.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young Italian star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.

The tragic poem, dominated by the themes of lust, crime, and revenge, tells the story of soldiers Tarquin and Collatine, and Collatine's wife Lucrece. It is believed to have been written in 1594. It is set just prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic. It is a poem with some similarity to Shakespeare's tragic revenge play, Titus Andronicus, and features aspects of other great Shakespearian works.

Antonio's friend Bassanio is in love and needs money to go courting. Using Antonio as his collateral, he borrows money from Shylock. But when the debt comes due, Shylock demands repayment in the form of a pound of Antonio's flesh. Hugh Griffin, Harry Andrews, Ian Holm and Roy Dotrice perform Shakespeare's tragicomedy.

Award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti recites William Shakespeare's Sonnet 43.

Award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti recites Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 12".

The Passionate Pilgrim was an anthology of 20 poems attributed to William Shakespeare - but which present-day scholars think just five were actually written by the Bard. Here, the most popular four poems, 'The Passionate Pilgrim', 'Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music', 'A Lover's Complaint', and 'The Phoenix and The Turtle' are read by Edith Evans, Donald Wolfit, Joan Hart, and William Squire.

This play, which bears an alternate title of What You Will, was written in about 1602. Twelfth Night has always been one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, and many adaptations have been made for film and musical theatre.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

Shakespeare wrote for grown-up people, for men and women, and in words that little folks cannot understand. Hence Nesbit's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare: to reproduce the entertaining stories contained in the plays of Shakespeare, in a form so simple that children can understand and enjoy them.

"Der Liebe Goldpfeil hätt ihn treffen sollen,Und nicht des Todes schwarzer Speer ihn holen." William Shakespeares frühe Verserzählung "Venus und Adonis" beschreibt die leidenschaftliche Zuneigung der Liebesgöttin zum schüchternen Adonis, der bei einem Jagdunfall tragisch ums Leben kommt. "Venus und Adonis" ist ein traumhaftes Ineinander von Gedanken, Sprache und Spiel, das Shakespeares Werk durch die Farbigkeit seiner Stilmittel unvergänglich macht.

Enjoy these 10 Christmas pieces by celebrated authors. The experience includes music and a range of lively and touching characters. Add a little poetry to your Christmas!

The book is a translated-into-Nepali-collection of Shakespeare’s stories, originally in English edited by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb. Translated stories are: The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s dream, The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth…

An award winning Drama from SmartPass. Unabridged with guided description to set the scene and fill in visual moments.