The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.1812  Monday, 25 October 1999.

[1]     From:   Elizabeth Williamson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Sunday, 24 Oct 1999 23:15:12 -0400 (EDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio

[2]     From:   Asami Nakayama <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Monday, 25 Oct 1999 13:09:25 +0900
        Subj:   Re: Shakespeare on Audio

[3]     From:   Drew Whitehead <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:24:33 +1000 (GMT+1000)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio

[4]     From:   Perry Herzfeld <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Monday, 25 Oct 1999 23:28:00 +1000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Elizabeth Williamson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Sunday, 24 Oct 1999 23:15:12 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio

The BBC Radio versions are routinely solid. Branagh's stage _Hamlet_ and
Gielgud's _Lear_ are only two of the more obvious choices.

Elizabeth Williamson

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Asami Nakayama <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 25 Oct 1999 13:09:25 +0900
Subject:        Re: Shakespeare on Audio

>I want to buy some audio cassettes of some plays.  Does anyone have any
>suggestions?  Is it better to get the full-cast productions or the
>one-reader versions?  Are there any particularly great or bad versions?

>Tom Reedy

I prefer the full-cast productions. Some are very enjoyable like a radio
drama.

If you like big names (I do), I recommend The Renaissance Theatre
Company's HAMLET (Random Century Audiobooks). It has Kenneth Branagh
(Hamlet), Derek Jacobi (Claudius), Judi Dench (Gertrude), John Gielgud
(Ghost), Emma Thompson (Player Queen), etc.

Happy listening!
Asami N.

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Drew Whitehead <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:24:33 +1000 (GMT+1000)
Subject: 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio

Tom,

I am rather a big fan of audio Shakespeare, great for listening to on a
long drive, and you be surprised at what works and what doesn't.  I
prefer a full acted version, many of the current Penguin Arkangel series
are very good.  Also some of the older Agro series by the Marlowe
Dramatic Society are ok, a bit stuffy perhaps, but still good.  They do
a very enjoyable Twelfth Night to my mind much better than the new
Arkangel one.  But something else that I have done is to record a movie
onto audio tape (just connect your video to your stereo).  Branagh's
Henry V works very well as an audio tape.  Another is the BBC video of
Richard II, rather stuffy visually but wonderful as an audio version.
Zeffirelli's R&J is also good as a audio version, and the music is
lovely as well.  Sometimes I think that Shakespeare must have been
written for radio.

Drew Whitehead
Dept. of English
University of Queensland

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Perry Herzfeld <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 25 Oct 1999 23:28:00 +1000
Subject: 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.1798 Q: Shakespeare on Audio

I have productions of both Macbeth and Twelfth Night on cassette put out
by HarperCollins Audio Books.  They are quite good and very reasonably
priced.  If you are looking for more modern productions, I have both
Romeo and Juliet (Random House Audiobooks) and Hamlet (BBC Radio) done
by The Renaissance Theatre Company on CD.  Both of these star Kenneth
Branagh and are very good.  There is an enormous variety of audio
versions of the more popular Shakespeare works (Hamlet, Macbeth, etc.)
but I think if you are looking for some of the more out of the way
plays, the HarperCollins series is almost complete.

Since you are buying a play on cassette, there seems little point in
buying a one-reader version.  You want to feel like you are at the
theatre, and so you should buy a full-cast production.  Further, Kenneth
Branagh is arrogant and annoying enough playing just one of the parts:
can you imagine him playing all of them?  The mind boggles!

Perry Herzfeld.

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