Showing results by narrator "Ian Patrick" in All Categories

Author and adventurer Bruce Chatwin was one of the 20th Century’s most charismatic writers. His first book, In Patagonia, changed the face of travel writing and made him a literary sensation. Collected here are dramatisations and readings of some of his best-known work, as well as a bonus programme shedding light on his relationships and writing.

Some of the most rewarding pages in Henry Miller's books concern his self-education as a writer. He tells, as few great writers ever have, how he set his goals, how he discovered the excitement of using words, how the books he read influenced him, and how he learned to draw on his own experience.

Power, excess and betrayal are played out in these tragedies that continue to hold modern resonance. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi and Prunella Scales can be heard in these recordings.

Whether he is accidentally cooking his brain with hand warmers or yanking his lure away from a trophy fish just before it takes the bait, Bill Heavey can do no right. For almost a decade, he has chronicled his incompetence on the back page of Field & Stream, where his hilarious dispatches about life as a hapless outdoorsman who lives in suburbia have earned him legions of fans.

Power, tragedy and hubris are played out in this quartet, all of which are set in the febrile political atmosphere of ancient Rome. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Prunella Scales, Patrick Wymark and William Devlin can be heard in these recordings.

Magical and dreamlike in its tone, Shakespeare’s The Tempest begins with a storm of epic proportions and a shipwreck. Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter. Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so, Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing ‘men’ from ‘monsters’, and the realities of justice.

The Moonstone, a yellow diamond looted from an Indian temple and believed to bring bad luck to its owner, is bequeathed to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night the priceless stone is stolen again and when Sergeant Cuff is brought in to investigate the crime, he soon realizes that no one in Rachel's household is above suspicion.

Young love, bawdiness and exuberance are played out in these comedies that continue to make us laugh and cheer. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi and Prunella Scales can be heard in these recordings.

The ghost of the king of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the king, queen, Hamlet's opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed.

These eight short stories are works of fiction but reflect the author's real personal experiences while undergoing compulsory military training during his youth in apartheid South Africa. The stories are all based on real events but the characters are the products of creative imagination, however rooted in reality they might be. Listeners will enjoy a range of humour and unusual incidents - frequently hilarious - along with perceptive insights into the trials and tribulations faced by a young man seeking an identity in a confusing world of military discipline and rigid conformity.

Four high-octane crime thrillers, each critically acclaimed as separate publications, now collected in a set. Hundreds of five-star reviews of the individual volumes testify to their reputation as action-packed thrillers steeped in authenticity and plausibility, reflecting the real world of police encounters with the dark world of crime.

Comedy, tragedy and folklore are played out in this quartet, all of which utilise the masque in unique and revelatory ways. Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Marlowe alumni including Ian McKellen, Prunella Scales, Michael Hordern and Patrick Wymark can be heard in these recordings.

Mark Antony, one of three rulers of Rome, is in love with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Antony is summoned back to Rome, where he clashes with another ruler, Octavius, before returning to Cleopatra in Egypt. Now in battle with Octavius, Antony and Cleopatra suffer losses and miscommunication and both eventually commit suicide. 

"The woman's cries floated down the passage and bubbled out through the front door in helpless, anguished, tortured spasms. It was a sound that echoed down the ages. The horror of mothers from any species that might ever have lived on the planet. A parent trying to deal with the impossible: the death of her young ones. It was a sound to chill the blood." A notorious killer escapes from prison. Heart-rending scenes show the kinds of trauma faced by victims of crime.

Midnight on a moonlit beach. Six cops execute four thugs after a heinous crime. They are unaware that there is a witness to the executions. Thrilling action explores tactical, ethical, and criminal choices made by officers of the law. A stark image of moral ambiguity underpins their struggle to maintain courageous and precarious control of all-engulfing crime. Plain-dealing cops face scrutiny in an emotional journey through choices made in the day-to-day confrontation with evil.

This sequel to the action-packed Devil Dealing depicts the ongoing search by detectives Jeremy Ryder and Navi Pillay for the evil gangster Skhura Thabethe, dealer in stolen weapons, drugs and murder. The secondary plot shows the detectives uncovering a link between stolen weapons and the local trade in drugs.

A top police investigative unit breaks an illegal gambling operation in the context of rampant police corruption and drug-fueled gangster violence in the city. Lead detective Jeremy Ryder is a physically powerful, quiet and meticulous investigator. His partner Navi Pillay is a small and exceptionally strong Tamil martial arts instructor, and she provides the speed and physical power to complement Ryder's incisive sleuthing abilities.

Light Up the Sky is a fast-paced, hilarious and ultimately loving look inside show business, set just before and immediately after a Broadway bound play meets its first audience. A full-cast performance featuring: Ian Barford, Patrick Clear, Shannon Cochran, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, Matt DeCaro, Kevin Gudahl, Deirdre Lovejoy, Mariann Mayberry, Phyllis Newman and Steve Pickering.