Classic Plays

The multi-award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. Full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Hear "A little touch of Harry" whenever you want to! Examine and appreciate the powerful language of leadership in this guided history play, considered to be Shakespeare's greatest creative statement about war.

Based on Robert Greene’s story Pandosto, The Winter’s Tale play tells the story of Leontes, king of Sicilia, and his childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia. In a jealous rage, Leontes mistakenly accuses Polixenes and his own his wife, Hermione, of adultery, and her newborn daughter as illegitimate, casting her into the wilderness, causing their son to die of grief and Hermione to seemingly follow suit. With his family dead or believed dead, Leontes must face the tragic consequences of his actions.

Bianca is beautiful and demure, with a plethora of would-be suitors, but marriage is forbidden until her older sister, Katherina, finds a suitable match. The hitch? Fiery Katherina has sworn to deny the hand or demands of any would-be suitor. That is, until she meets her match in the wily Petrucio. As Katherina’s own sharp tongue is met by Petrucio’s feigned cruelty, the ‘shrew’ apparently capitulates. Or does she?

Jealous conspirators convince Caesar's friend Brutus to join their assassination plot against Caesar. To stop Caesar from gaining too much power, Brutus and the conspirators kill him on the Ides of March. Mark Antony drives the conspirators out of Rome and fights them in a battle. Brutus and his friend Cassius lose and kill themselves, leaving Antony to rule in Rome.

Comedy, tragedy and folklore are played out in this quartet, all of which utilise the masque in unique and revelatory ways. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Prunella Scales, Michael Hordern and Patrick Wymark can be heard in these recordings.

Young love, bawdiness and exuberance are played out in these comedies that continue to make us laugh and cheer. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi and Prunella Scales can be heard in these recordings.

When the crew of the Oceanus rescued a man close to death, its captain could barely have guessed at the incredible story that man would come to share. This is the story of Victor Frankenstein: a man obsessed with discovering the secret of life and cheating death; a man who brings to life to a body built from corpses; and a man who rejects this would-be child.... Soon Victor and his creature are entangled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse across Europe. But who is truly the monster?

Wealthy and popular, Timon of Athens helps his friends, gives many gifts and holds a feast. After ignoring his true friends' warnings, Timon runs out of money and none of his 'friends' will help him. He runs away to a cave where he curses humanity, finds gold, funds someone to destroy Athens and dies.

After York's claims to the throne, Henry changes the succession and makes York his heir, disinheriting his own son. Henry's queen kills York, and York's son Edward seizes the throne. Henry is imprisoned several times and eventually killed by King Edward's brother, Richard.

About this Edition: "A Midsummer Night's Dream (Special Edition)" is specially annotated and handcrafted to help readers, to easily understand the complicated and dramatic book of "William Shakespeare". The book consist all the original acts and chapters as well as the illustrated acts and chapters, in some places pictures have been included to improve the overall reading experience. Have a nice reading. Study Guide: A Midsummer Night's Dream is first mentioned by Francis Meres in 1598, leading many scholars to date the play between 1594 and 1596.

Pavel Vassilyevitch finds himself meeting with an unwanted visitor one day after lunch, an odd woman beseeching him to give him just a half hour of his time. Madam Murashkin wants Pavel to critique a play that she has written before she sets off on a voyage, and insists it will take only a half hour of his time. Unable to deny her relentless pitiful pleas, Pavel gives in and Madam Murashkin launches into her play - which turns out to take much longer than half an hour to get through.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.

Macbeth is William Shakespeare's immortal tale of boundless, bloody ambition. Mystical predictions from witches and ghosts, combined with an uncontrollable lust for power, trap Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, in a web of political intrigue, madness, and murder.

Lady Ludlow's appalling snobbery, prejudice and bred-in-the-bone conviction as to the superiority of the English aristocracy and their feudal way of life are deliciously tested, and found wanting, in this gently radical tale of the collapse of a social system. Elizabeth Gaskell's My Lady Ludlow is a brilliant picture of the shift in power in a rural northern village, from the velvety feudal Ludlows to the glitter of the new money rattling through the system courtesy of the brazen baker from Birmingham.

After vowing to avoid women, the king and three of his friends have to host a princess and her three ladies. The four men fall in love and decide to court the women. In the end, the women must return to their kingdom for a year after which they will marry the king and his friends, providing they remain true to them.

The Shakespeare in Autumn Seasons Edition--Fall: Features selected works from William Shakespeare, history’s greatest and most influential writer of the English language. His poetry and plays have been recited and studied for generation upon generation and remain iconic works of literature...

A Dama do Cachorrinho é uma obra de Anton Tchekhov que narra a história de um breve, mas intenso, caso de amor entre Dmitri Gurov, um homem casado e insatisfeito com sua vida, e Anna Sergeyevna, uma jovem mulher que ele conhece durante suas férias em Yalta. Anna é conhecida como "a dama do cachorrinho" porque sempre é vista acompanhada de seu pequeno cachorro. A princípio, o relacionamento é visto por Gurov como uma aventura passageira, mas, à medida que eles se conhecem mais profundamente, ele percebe que seus sentimentos por Anna são mais profundos do que esperava.

Henry VIII folis a plot by the scheming Cardinal Wolsey and rejects his 20-year marriage with the tragic Katherine of Aragon. All the while he is keeping his wandering eye on the beautiful Anne Boleyn.

"Sein oder Nichtsein, das ist hier die Frage!" Der dänische Prinz Hamlet weiß nicht mehr weiter: Einerseits ist er sich sicher, das sein Vater, der König, ermordet wurde, und zwar durch Claudius, dessen Bruder - der jetzt König ist und sogar Hamlets Mutter geheiratet hat. Andererseits ist der wankelmütige, schöngeistige Prinz nicht sicher, ob und wie er seinen Vater rächen soll - obwohl dieser ihn in Gestalt eines Geistes dazu auffordert. Hamlet beschließt auf Zeit zu spielen, und spielt die Rolle des Verrückten. Doch dies macht nicht nur seiner Geliebten Ophelia zu schaffen.

Hamlet was written between 1597 and 1600, just after the death of Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet, one of twins, who died aged 11 in 1596. Despite scholarly argument that this was mere coincidence, it is impossible to believe that a writer as sensitive as Shakespeare would not be questioning the reason for the life and death of his son during those years.This production contends that Hamlet was to a large degree shaped by the answers to those questions.