The Essential Shakespeare Live Encore
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Othello (featuring Paul Robeson)
A Midsummer Night?s Dream (featuring Ben Kingsley and Frances De La Tour)
Henry V (featuring Geoffrey Streatfeild)
Following the success of The Essential Shakespeare Live, the British Library and the Royal Shakespeare Company are proud to present a second audio set of live Shakespeare recordings, The Essential Shakespeare Live Encore. The two discs feature scenes and speeches taken from RSC productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, recorded by the British Library and the RSC over a period of almost half a century. As in the first volume, all the recordings are being published for the first time. The extracts, chosen by RSC Chief Associate Director Gregory Doran, are taken from productions that were not included previously, so as to complement the first volume. The roll-call of prestigious portrayals runs from Paul Robeson's legendary Othello in 1959 to David Tennant's highly-acclaimed Hamlet in 2008. Among the other memorable productions are Peter Hall's Henry IV Part 1, Trevor Nunn's The Winter's Tale, John Barton's The Merchant of Venice, Adrian Noble's Macbeth, Sam Mendes' Troilus and Cressida and the recent Histories cycle of Michael Boyd.
Track listing
DISC ONE
1. Othello [1959] (featuring Paul Robeson)
From Act 1 Scene 3
2. Henry IV Part 1 [1964] (featuring Ian Holm)
From Act 2 Scene 4
3. The Winter?s Tale [1971] (featuring Judi Dench)
From Act 5 Scene 3
4. A Midsummer Night?s Dream [1972] (featuring Ben Kingsley)
From Act 2 Scene 1
5. Love?s Labour?s Lost [1975] (featuring Ian Richardson)
From Act 4 Scene 3
6. The Merchant of Venice [1981] (featuring David Suchet)
From Act 3 Scene 1
7. Measure for Measure [1984] (featuring Juliet Stevenson)
From Act 3 Scene 1
8. Macbeth [1987] (fetauring Jonathan Pryce)
From Act 1 Scene 7
9. Much Ado about Nothing [1991] (fetauring Roger Allam)
From Act 4 Scene 1
10. Troilus and Cressida [1991] (featuring Simon Russell Beale)
From Act 5 Scene 1
11. The Two Gentlemen of Verona [1992] (featuring Richard Moore)
From Act 2 Scene 3
DISC TWO
1. Henry VIII (All is True) [1996] (featuring Ian Hogg)
2. Timon of Athens [1999] (featuring Michael Pennington)
3. King John [2001] (featuring Trevor Cooper)
4. Pericles [2002] (fetauring Roger Frost)
5. The Taming of the Shrew [2003] (featuring Ian Gelder)
6. Cymbeline [2003] (featuring Emma Fielding)
7. Antony and Cleopatra [2006] (featuring Patrick Stewart)
8. King Lear [2007] (featuring Ian McKellen)
9. Henry V [2008] (featuring Geoffrey Streatfeild)
10. Hamlet [2008] (featuring David Tennant)
Reviews
'What a treasure trove these discs prove for lovers of Shakespeare and great acting. In the new volume you can hear Paul
Robeson's magically voiced Othello, still sounding wonderfully fresh and sonorous 50 years on, and time travel through the
decades right up to David Tennant's Hamlet last year, with its magical mixture of sharp intelligence, humour and depth of
feeling.'
Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph
'It was a superb idea first time round and continues to be so... as in the first volume, Doran collects some truly
cherishable performances... there are so many good things here.'
Plays International
I finally got to hear the performance that, a decade before I was born, could cause my granny to dissolve into tears just
remembering it.
Sam Leith, The Guardian
