Shakespeare on Audio

Shakespeare's audience was more accustomed than we to receiving information aurally, and a play that is well read can be enjoyed by listening as much as by viewing. In many ways, radio productions have more freedom than do films. They can both give emphasis to the text and appeal to the listener's imagination. Another advantage is that the actors need not be chosen to fit a particular age or appearance. If one wants to know the plays well, I think audio tapes are a great means. They often have much more complete text than is usual in popular films.

For movie reviews, see William Shakepeare on Film and Video.

This page is permanently "in progress". I frequently add new entries and revise old ones as I hear new tapes and revisit old ones.

Antony and Cleopatra

As You Like It

The Comedy of Errors

Coriolanus

Hamlet

Hamlet. 1992. BBC Radio.

A lively dramatization, directed by Branagh and featuring many of his usual people, including Patrick Doyle doing the score. Leisurely pace with long musical interludes. Each player strives to extract the most from his lines, although Michael Hordern gives plain recitations as the Player King.

My only complaint about Branagh here is that in Hamlet's "antic" moments he speaks with a sort of schoolboy sing-song.

I noticed an opportunity for comedy in the first scene, but how would you pull it off on windy battlements while facing a glaring ghost? Horatio, having offered several kind sentiments to the Ghost, finally has a more mundane thought: "Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life / Extorted treasure in the womb of earth..."

The play is so familiar and the puzzles so many (someday I'll write "One hundred things that make no sense in Hamlet" -- I'm sure I won't be the first) that we sometimes forget that it is supposed to be a tragedy. Anything the performers can do to realize this is worthwhile. In this production, Ophelia is allowed to sing her last mad song clearly and unaffectedly, which I found quite moving.

Claudius Derek Jacobi
Hamlet Kenneth Branagh
Polonius Richard Briers
Horatio Michael Williams
Laertes James Wilby
Player King Michael Hordern
Player Queen Emma Thompson
Gertrude Judi Dench
Ophelia Sophie Thompson
Ghost John Gielgud

Hamlet. 1998. Arkangel.

Although, as is the case with all the Arkangel recordings I have heard, the reading is very clear, the dramatization of this production is rather dull. Simon Russell Beale's Hamlet is a very familar "type" of the part (intellectual, fastidious, self-absorbed) almost to the point of caricature. (Sort of like the Hamlet in the film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead). Now, Norman Rodway's Polonius is also familar, but much more satisfying. Perhaps Polonius does not suffer from being caricatured.

I like Bob Peck, but his Claudius is a poor reading.

The grave diggers are amusing. Hamlet narrates "The Mousetrap", a good idea for a radio presentation.

This production demonstrates one of the virtues of audio readings: Beale is an actor who doesn't look like a typical Hamlet, but there is no reason why he shouldn't play him.

Henry IV Part I

Henry IV Part II

Henry V

Henry VIII

Julius Caesar

King Lear

King Lear. 1994. BBC Radio.

Lear John Gielgud
King of France Derek Jacobi
Cornwall Robert Stephens
Albany John Shrapnel
Kent Keith Michelle
Gloucester Richard Briers
Edgar Ian Glen
Edmund Kenneth Branagh
Fool Michael Williams
Oswald Bob Hoskins
Goneril Judi Dench
Regan Eileen Atkins
Cordelia Emma Thompson

Macbeth

Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure. 1998. Arkangel.

All good performances, particularly Stephen Magnan as Lucio and Stella Gonet as Isabella.

As always, the Duke's character is a mystery. Here he is played with a combination of nervousness and self-assurance.

The ending works well enough except (as always) for the Duke's proposal to Isabella. I imagine everyone on stage gawking at the Duke in astonishment when he says the lines.

Irritating incidental music.

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice. 1964. Caedmon.

Antonio Harry Andrews
Bassanio Jeremy Brett
Shylock Hugh Griffith
Lorenzo Ian Holm
Portia Dorothy Tutin

The Merchant of Venice. 19xx. Arkangel.

PortiaHadyn Gwynne
ShylockTrevor Peacock
BassanioJulian Rhind-Tutt
AntonioBill Nighy
GratianoWill Keen
LorenzoMatthew Delamere
JessicaSarah-Jane Holm
NerissaAlison Reid
Launcelot GobboDavid Tennant
The DukeGeoffrey Whitehead
MoroccoColin Salmon
ArragonRobert Morgan
Old GobboRonald Herdman
SalerioJonathan Tafler
SolanioNicholas Murchie

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor. 1966. Caedmon.

Falstaff Anthony Quayle
Fenton Alec McCowen
Slender Ronnie Stevens
Ford Michael Hordern
Page Anthony Nicholls
Hugh Evans Aubrey Richards
Doctor Caius Micheál MacLiammóir
Mistress Ford Joyce Redman
Mistress Page June Jago
Anne Page Judith Stott
Mistress Quickly Hazel Hughes

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream. 1964. Caedmon.

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello

Othello. 1960. Caedmon.

The best performances, for clarity of speaking and the value of their interpretations, are those of Anna Massey (Desdemona), Celia Johnson (Emelia), and Alan Bates (Cassio). Frank Silvera's Othello has good moments when he slows down and enters his story-telling mode. Cyril Cusack's Iago is not satisfying. The voice is lazy and insinuating, lacking the passion suggested by the often-repeated "I hate the Moor".

I did not get any fresh illumination from this production, although this is the first time I noticed Desdemona called "our great captain's captain", matching the later "Our general's wife is now the general". Iago is lying in the second instance, but what does Cassio mean in the first?

The sexual and racial features of the story are skipped over lightly. This is a problem with many radio productions: all passages are given equal weight whether they deserve it or not. As I said, Othello does give more emphasis when telling his stories of courting Desdemona and of the strawberry handkerchief.

What to do about the final scene? The traditional shrieking and bellowing makes me wince and does nothing to exploit the text. Tragedy becomes comic when you overdo it. Grief must be expressed with less realism to be effectively performed.

Richard II

Richard III

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet. 1993. BBC Radio.

Chorus Iam Holm
Escalus Norman Rodway
Paris Nicholas Farrell
Montague Bernard Hepton
Capulet Richard Briers
Romeo Kenneth Branagh
Mercutio Derek Jacobi
Benvolio Simon Callow
Tybalt Ian Glen
Friar Laurence John Gielgud
Lady Montague Dilys Laye
Lady Capulet Sheila Hancock
Juliet Samantha Bond
Nurse Judi Dench

Romeo and Juliet. 1998. Arkangel.

Sonnets

Sonnets. 19xx. Ronald Coleman, Cassette Book Company 1983.
Sonnets. 1995. Penguin.

The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

The Tempest. 1998. Arkangel.

Bob Peck is a peevish Prospero, Jennifer Ehle an intelligent Miranda. Very fine production quality and impressive storm sequence! Good articulation of the text throughout. Most of the spirit songs are done as recitations.

As usual, the episodes with Caliban and the drunken sailors are drained of humor. What would it take to do these properly? No doubt Caliban is more pathetic to us now than when originally written, and this makes the performance difficult. I'm not sure of the intent of his accent in this production: deformity, unhumaness, or simply foreigness?

The dialogue of Miranda and Antonio is done too seriously. A bit of gentle humor would not be out of place.

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus. 1966. Caedmon.

Troilus and Cressida

Twelfth Night

The Winter's Tale

related titles

Ages of Man. 1979. Caedmon.

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Bill McClain (wmcclain@watershade.net)