Classic BBC Radio Shakespeare: Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night

by William Shakespeare

Three classic radio productions from the BBC archives starring Nigel Hawthorne, Miriam Margolyes, Geraldine McEwan and a host of celebrated acting talent.

These three legendary plays, performed by some of the best-known theatrical actors of the 20th Century, are the perfect way to commemorate England's greatest dramatist.

The Taming of the Shrew: The controversial comedy about the battle of the sexes and a very unconventional marriage, starring Fenella Fielding as Katherine, with Miriam Margolyes as Bianca and Paul Daneman as Petruchio.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: One of Shakespeare's best-loved plays, this tale of warring fairies, eloping lovers and the magic and madness of love has bewitched audiences since its very first performance. Starring Nigel Hawthorne as Oberon with Maureen O'Brien as Titania.

Twelfth Night: Mistaken identity and a tangled love triangle lead to confusion and, ultimately, happiness in this comic masterpiece. Starring Dorothy Tutin as Viola, with Geraldine McEwan as Olivia, and Stephen Murray as Malvolio.

Recorded at BBC Broadcasting House and featuring the BBC Drama Repertory company, with specially composed music including a score from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, this is classic radio drama at its finest.

Duration: 7 hours approx.

Genres: Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published July 1, 2016

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[sch · Rating 4 out of 5]

11 Jul 2018. And The Taming of the Shrew, too, why not. This is the best performance of the three and a hilarious play.

11 Jul 2018. Reading Twelfth Night for the first time. Not my favorite, but I'm willing to try another production.

Mar 2017. Rereading Midsummer to teach. In this production, the aristocrats and "mechanicals" are great. The fairies are too goofy for my taste.

[Sophie]

On the one hand, this should count as 3 texts, but on the other hand, I barely paid attention to any of them. I’d like to see A Midsummer Nights Dream on stage tho!