Showing results for "Judi Dench" in Literature & Fiction

For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.

Two archive BBC Radio programmes in which Judi Dench and Michael Williams, accompanied by friends John Moffatt and Alec McCowen, read a cornucopia of poetry and prose. In this enchanting pair of programmes from 1991 and 1996, Dame Judi Dench and husband Michael Williams shared an eclectic selection of pieces that they loved, admired or simply found entertaining.

Writer and director David Hare is one of England's leading political dramatists, celebrated for his many award-winning plays analysing the morality of contemporary Britain. This collection comprises some of his most acclaimed pieces, as well as a fascinating radio interview with Hare himself.

Beginning with A Study in Scarlet and concluding with The Hound of the Baskervilles, this epic project took over 8 years to complete - and this landmark collection contains the extraordinary result. Here is the world's first ever fully dramatised Sherlock Holmes canon: 56 short stories and 4 novels, all made by the same team of directors, producers, dramatists and leading actors, and packed with the high production qualities of a film or TV drama that set it apart.

George Bernard Shaw - or Bernard Shaw, as he preferred to be known - was one of Ireland's foremost dramatists and thinkers. His plays range from contemporary satires to historical allegories, and are infused with ideas, insight, wit and wisdom. Included here are some of his best works, adapted for radio and brought together in reverse chronological order in one statement collection.

A sparkling collection of the major works of the ever-adored Oscar Wilde, with incredible casts including Judi Dench, Martin Clunes, Michael Sheen, Miriam Margolyes, Ian McDiarmid, Joely Richardson, Penelope Keith, Martin Jarvis, Diana Rigg, Simon Russell Beale, Sheila Hancock, Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry.

Peter Shaffer’s three most renowned plays, plus a radio monologue performed by Dame Judi Dench. Sir Peter Shaffer was one of the most distinguished and successful British playwrights of his generation. He won the Tony Award for both Amadeus and Equus, and the film adaptation of Amadeus garnered eight Oscars. In 1997, he was awarded an OBE, and he was knighted in the 2001 New Year honours list. This collection contains his best-known plays and a monologue specially written for radio, first broadcast in 1989.

Unfairly accused of stealing money from his community’s church, Silas Marner has become bitter and misanthropic - and wealthy. One New Year’s Eve, however, he rescues a small child from the snowstorm outside and his life changes forever. A deeply moving exploration of loneliness and redemption, Silas Marner is a beloved and timeless classic. Dame Judi Dench brings its humanity to life with unmatchable warmth and elegance.

Lise is thin, neither good-looking nor bad-looking. One day she walks out of her office, acquires a gaudy new outfit, adopts a girlier tone of voice and heads to the airport to fly south. On the plane she takes a seat between two men. One is delighted with her company, the other is deeply perturbed. So begins an unnerving journey into the darker recesses of human nature.

This highly entertaining anthology of verse is the comic, tragic, tender, and telling story of life's seven ages, from childhood to old age. Within the framework of Shakespeare's speech, "The Seven Ages of Man," performed by Sir Ian McKellen, are 150 great poems from all ages, from Chaucer to Emily Dickinson to Walt Whitman and many others. The poem are presented by the finest cast ever assembled on one recording and includes Ralph Fiennes, Dame Judi Dench, John Cleese, Michael Caine, and more.

Renowned for his wit, style and sophistication, Noël Coward was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century. His plays, set in the glittering world of high society in which he lived, are much admired and have remained in the popular theatre repertoire to this day. This collection brings together the very best radio adaptation

Graham Greene was the 20th century’s master of plot, an expert chronicler of Catholic guilt, Cold War intrigue, conflict and crime. A prolific polymath, his work incorporated serious novels, thrillers, short stories, screenplays, stage plays and more. This wide-ranging box set includes the finest examples of his early work, written between 1932 and 1948, and contains over 15 hours of unmissable drama.

A master of Russian realism, Anton Chekhov is renowned for his meticulously observed plays and short stories exploring the human condition, in all its joys and sorrows. Included here are six of his best-known dramas, as well as Michael Frayn's adaptation of Wild Honey, drawn from an early, untitled Chekhov play; and one documentary exploring Chekhov's life and work.

Award-winning author Dame Susan Hill is best known for her hit ghost story The Woman in Black and her popular ‘Simon Serailler’ detective series, but she has also written extensively for radio. This audio anthology includes full-cast adaptations of two of her early novels, plus an additional 12 BBC Radio plays, many of them available for the very first time since their original broadcasts.

From the rumblings of provincial England in Silas Marner and Cranford to a wild and dangerous journey across the Holy Lands in Ivanhoe, these classic novels of the Georgian and Victorian period are as relevant and important today as they ever have been.

John Fowles won international acclaim for his innovative, allusive novels The Collector, The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman. All were critical and commercial successes, translated into several languages and adapted as feature films. This collection brings together the BBC Radio adaptations of these three modern classics, with stellar casts including Judi Dench, Charles Dance and John Hurt.

Nikos Kazantzakis is widely regarded as the greatest Greek writer and philosopher of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 14 times, and his works have been translated into over 50 languages. Included here are dramatisations of his two most famous and influential novels, both of which were adapted as hit films and became cultural phenomena.

This entertaining introduction to Shakespeare's work weaves biographical information with excerpts from 33 of his plays. Informative, well-researched commentary, written by two Royal Shakespeare Company actors, provides a glimpse of the man and little-known lore about his work.

Man and Superman was the first drama to be broadcast on the BBC's Third Programme on October 1, 1946. To celebrate Radio 3's 50th anniversary, the play was directed by Sir Peter Hall, and preserved for all time in this lush audio dramatization. 'A comedy and a philosophy', Man and Superman is based on the Don Juan theme, and using all the elements from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Shaw reordered them so that Don Juan becomes the quarry instead of the huntsman.

Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly abridged and remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. What was it like to love, live, and rebel in Britain during the 19th and 20th centuries? These beloved British novels offer three dramatically different but universally recognisable experiences. Read by three luminaries of the stage and screen: Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, and Sir John Gielgud.