Audiobook · read by volunteers
Shakespeare Monologues Collection vol. 04
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Read by Jim Cadwell, Clarica, Elizabeth Klett, Sibella Denton, Joanne, Paul Santagada, Merne Túrante, Caliban, Corun, BLRossow · 20 chapters · 42 min
About the book
Some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches are really short plays in themselves: one character, one moment of decision, one outpouring of feeling. This fourth collection of monologues presents twenty recordings, read by LibriVox volunteers. It opens with the question that has echoed for four centuries, To be or not to be, and goes on to the comic outbursts of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, from the cry of Oh Spite! Oh Hell! to the announcement that a mistress is in love with a monster. After that come Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Richard III, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Antony and Cleopatra and As You Like It. Each speech is short, so listeners can sample one or enjoy the whole sequence in under an hour. It is an inviting introduction to the poetry and drama of the world’s best-known playwright.
Introduction
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is widely regarded as the greatest playwright of all time. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, he worked in London as actor, writer and part-owner of a theatre company, and he wrote comedies, histories, tragedies and poems that have been performed and translated in every part of the world. Monologues are among the most quoted parts of his plays, because they allow a character to think aloud.
This is the fourth volume in LibriVox’s series of monologue collections, and it consists of twenty short parts, each labelled with the play, the speech and the act and scene. Hearing a speech outside its play has a particular pleasure: the listener can attend to the language, the images and the rhythm without worrying about the plot. At the same time, each volunteer reader makes distinct choices about tone and pace, which keeps the sequence varied from beginning to end.
Anyone who has met these plays on the page will find fresh pleasure in hearing the lines performed, and those new to Shakespeare will discover how vivid and direct his language can be when spoken. The mixture of tragic and comic moments makes the collection easy to enjoy in a single sitting.
Twenty recordings, about 42 minutes in all, are read by LibriVox volunteers. Among them you will hear Henry V rousing his soldiers, Prospero’s farewell to his revels and Juliet’s impatience for the night, which makes the sequence a quick tour through Shakespeare’s tragedies, comedies and histories. Sample a single speech on a short break, or let the whole sequence play from the opening question to the winter wind of the final recording.
Public domain
William Shakespeare died in 1616: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text