William Shakespeare
Richard III belongs to Shakespeare's folio of King Richard plays, and is the longest of his plays after Hamlet. It is classified variously as a tragedy and a history, showing the reign of Richard III in an unflattering light. The play's length springs in part from its reference to the other Richard plays, with which Shakespeare assumed his audience would be familiar. These references and characters are often edited out to create an abridged
...In this BBC full-cast production, a trio of witches predicts Macbeth's early demise.
In a tale of fate, fulfilment and ego, Macbeth and his wife desire the Scottish kingship. Macbeth's temptation and descent into evil, his wife's ruthlessness and subsequent madness and the overarching presence of the supernatural charge this gripping production. Will their conscience, and the prophecy, catch up with them before the crown can be secured?
Ken
In this BBC full-cast production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena run to the woods and stumble into a life separate from time itself.
Fairy magic wreaks havoc and midsummer madness takes over as lovers tread the delicate line between fantasy and reality.
Sylvestra le Touzel stars as Titania in this delightful comic fantasy, with Samuel West as Lysander, David Threlfall as Theseus,
In this BBC full-cast production of Romeo And Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers fight for each other until their dying breath. Can their two feuding families reconcile?
With the intimacy of radio, the full beauty and meaning of some of the most lyrical lines ever written can be truly heard: tenderness and passion, betrayal and bigotry are brilliantly evoked as the tale comes to its tragic conclusion.
Douglas Henshall stars
7) The tempest
11) Hamlet
15) Julius Caesar
16) Macbeth
17) As you like it
The Sonnets compiles 154 Sonnets written by Shakespeare on all manner of themes from love and fidelity to politics and lineage. Many of the sonnets - in particular the first 17, commonly called the procreation sonnets - were commissioned, a fact which calls a simple, romantic reading into question.
One of Shakespeare's early comedies, Love's Labour's Lost follows the travails of the King of Navarre and three of his companions as they make a vow to eschew the attentions of women and devote themselves entirely to scholarship for a period of three years. In a classic case of poor timing, each of the four men soon crosses paths with their soul-mate, and hilarity ensues. Rife with witty word play, critics agree that Love's Labour's Lost
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