Seven Classic Plays

Shakespeare, William; Dumas, Alexandre; Shaw, George Bernard; Chekhov, Anton; Ibsen, Henrik

ISBN 10: 1470826372 ISBN 13: 9781470826376

Publisher: Craig Black, 2012

Synopsis

[Read by F. Murray Abraham, John Glover, Rosemary Harris, Nicholas Kepros, Barry Morse, Brian Murray, Lois Nettleton, and Fritz Weaver]

Blackstone Audio is proud to present seven great plays in a collection that illustrates the development of European drama from ancient times to the threshold of the modern theater: Medea by Euripides, The Tempest by Shakespeare, The Imaginary Invalid by Molière, Camille by Dumas, An Enemy of the People by Ibsen, Arms and the Man by Shaw, and Uncle Vanya by Chekhov.

A superb repertory company with distinguished guest artists has been assembled here, under the direction of veteran producer Yuri Rasovsky, who has won both an Audie Award for book production and the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting. These full performances use all the resources of audio to full advantage while keeping the substance of the works intact, resulting in both greater intimacy and lively theatrics.

About this title

About the Author:

Yuri Rasovsky (1944-2012) was the leading writer, producer, and director of audio drama in the United States. Also a distinguished actor, narrator, and critic, his numerous honors include two Peabody Awards, eight Audie Awards, and a Grammy.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time, and Shakespeare was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.

Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-1895), was the illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas, pere, who followed in his father's footsteps becoming a celebrated author and playwright. In 1831 his father legally recognized him and ensured the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux and the College Bourbon. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother. Her agony inspired Dumas fils to write about tragic female characters. In almost all of his writings, he emphasized the moral purpose of literature and in his 1858 play, Le fils Naturel (The Illegitimate Son), he espoused the belief that if a man fathers an illegitimate child, then he has an obligation to legitimize the child and marry the woman. In 1844 Dumas, fils, moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. There, he met Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who would be the inspiration for his romantic novel, Camille (La Dame aux Camillas).

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish-born playwright, critic, and political activist, began his writing career in London. In addition to writing sixty-three plays, his prodigious output as critic, pamphleteer, and essayist influenced numerous social issues. In 1925, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and in 1938 an Oscar for the movie version of Pygmalion.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays and is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama.

About this edition

• Publisher: Craig Black
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1470826372
• ISBN 13: 9781470826376
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 1