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Sign up todayBBC Radio Shakespeare: A Collection of Six Tragedies
Length
16 hours 26 minutes
Language
English
Narrators
Bill Wallis, Corin Redgrave, Full Cast, Geraldine James, Juliet Stevenson, Ken Stott, Kenneth Cranham, Michael Sheen, Siân Phillips & Sophie Dahl
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreSix full-cast BBC Radio productions of Shakespeare's classic tragedies
Treachery, betrayal and fatal power struggles are among the themes of these six iconic productions of Shakespeare's timeless tragedies. Featuring all-star casts, they are introduced by Sir Richard Eyre.
Hamlet
Shakespeare's powerfully poetic tragedy of murder, madness and revenge stars Michael Sheen as the Prince of Denmark, with Kenneth Cranham as Claudius and Juliet Stevenson as Gertrude.
Macbeth
In this notorious 'Scottish play', a lust for power and the prophecy of three witches transform a brave nobleman into a traitor and murderous tyrant. Ken Stott stars as Macbeth and Phyllis Logan as Lady Macbeth.
King Lear
The tragic consequences of evil triumphing over truth, and of the vanity of old age, are set in motion when Lear banishes his favourite daughter, Cordelia, from court. Starring Corin Redgrave as King Lear, with David Troughton, Geraldine James and Robert Glenister.
Othello
Evil cunning perverts a once noble mind, as heroic general Othello is destroyed by both his own jealousy and the machinations of the devious Iago. Ray Fearon stars as Othello, with James Frain as Iago.
Romeo and Juliet
An updated version of Shakespeare's tragedy of feuding families and doomed love, set in modern Verona and starring Douglas Henshall as Romeo and Sophie Dahl as Juliet.
Cymbeline
When Cymbeline discovers his daughter Imogen's secret marriage to Posthumus, he banishes her husband. But Posthumus's boasts of his wife's chastity provoke lachimo to attempt her seduction. Bill Wallis stars as Cymbeline.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a well-to-do local land owner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford’s grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585.
Shakespeare’s theatrical life seems to have commenced around 1590. We do know that he was part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, which was renamed the King’s Company in 1603 when James I succeeded to the throne. The Company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.
Shakespeare’s poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written at this time as well.
Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include Henry VI and Titus Andronicus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Richard II all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s; these include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony & Cleopatra. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include The Tempest.
Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as ‘the First Folio’.