Showing results by author "Michela Bertazzo" in All Categories

Le Morte d'Arthur (spelled Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, Middle French for la mort d'Arthur, "the death of Arthur") is Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. The book contains some of Malory's own original material (the Gareth story) and retells the older stories in light of Malory's own views and interpretations. First published in 1485 by William Caxton, Le Morte d'Arthur is perhaps the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their ...

Christopher Marlowe's Elizabethan tragedy focuses on the downfall of King Edward II, whose love for his favorite courtier, Piers Gaveston, leads to rebellion. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)CastGaveston: Chuck WilliamsonKing Edward II: Martin GeesonLancaster/Berkeley: ToddMortimer Senior/Monks/Matrevis: Ric FMortimer Junior: mbEarl of Kent: Arielle LipshawEarl of Warwick/Sir John of Hainault/Lightborn: Alan MapstoneBishops of Coventry, Winchester, and Canterbury/Spencer Senior: Algy PugQueen Isabella/Narrator: Elizabeth KlettPembroke/Mower/Gurney: Thomas CardwellPrince Edward: Charlotte ...

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery, and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, beast fable, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in...

Written around the middle of his career, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's great festive comedies. The men are back from the war, and everyone is ready for romance. The dashing young Claudio falls for Hero, the daughter of Leonato, governor of Messina, and his friend Don Pedro helps him secure her affection. These youthful lovers are contrasted with the more experienced (and more cynical) Benedick and Beatrice, who have to be tricked into falling in love. Don Pedro's bastard brother, Don John, provides the intrigue, and the dimwitted constable Dogberry provides the laughs. (...

Few plays have been seen as a more fitting conclusion to a playwright's career than Shakespeare's The Tempest. Focusing on the aging sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, Prospero, we are transported to a remote island where magic and strange music fill the air, and the monstrous slave Caliban roams in bitterness. Seeing an opportunity to restore his slandered name, Prospero conjures a mighty storm to bring down a ship containing his wicked brother and the King of Naples, both of whom had driven him out of Milan twelve years before. By stranding them on a remote end of the island, and with the ...

Cymbeline is one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote, classified by scholars as a late romance or comedy. It's famous for featuring a highly convoluted plot that oftentimes feels like a grab bag of elements from Shakespeare's greatest hits: we have virtuous lovers, a temperamental monarch, a conniving stepmother, an untrustworthy Italian, an arrogant clod, kidnapped siblings, cross-dressing, battles, a devious murder plot, and (of course) some shocking plot twists.And to perform it all? Three men (Tony Addison, Craig Franklin, and Tomas Peter) and one woman (Sonia), determined to give you a ...

The Life and Death of King John, a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of John, King of England (ruled 1199–1216), son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III of England. It is believed to have been written in the mid-1590s but was not published until it appeared in the First Folio in 1623.John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216), also known as John Lackland or Softsword, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death. His reign saw the loss of the duchy of Normandy to the French king Philip II in 1204, resulting in the collapse...

Twelfth Night, or What You Wil is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as a boy) falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion, with plot elements drawn from the short...

William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, based on true events, concerns the conspiracy against Julius Caesar, his assassination in 44 BC, and its immediate aftermath. Probably written in 1599 and among the first of Shakespeare's plays to be performed at the Globe Theater, Julius Caesar is one of his best-known dramas and has received innumerable performances throughout the centuries. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden after Wikipedia)Cast:Julius Caesar – Kim StichOctavius Caesar – Glenn SimonsenAntony – Barry EadsLepidus and Cicero – David LawrencePublius, Poet, and Pindarus –...

Othello is a tragedy about the downfall of the titular hero, Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice. His cunning ensign, Iago, plots to goad his jealousy and thus manipulate his relationship with his wife, Desdemona, a noble and virtuous Venetian beauty whom he just married. (Summary by Junrui Zheng)

Othello is the story of a cross-cultural romance between the title character, a noble moor who is a general in the Venetian army, and Desdemona, a beautiful and virtuous Venetian lady. The newly-married couple fall prey to the machinations of Iago, Othello's jealous ensign, who plots to destroy their union. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)Cast:Duke of Venice: Filippo GioachinBrabantio: om123First Senator: David LawrenceSecond Senator: Lucy PerryGratiano: Denny SayersLodovico: Lars RolanderOthello: Bruce PirieCassio: Mark F. SmithIago: mbMontano: Robert KeiperRoderigo: Matthew HillClown: ...

King Lear is widely held as the greatest of Shakespeare's tragedies; to some, it is the greatest play ever written. King Lear abdicates the British throne, to divide his kingdom among his three daughters in proportion to their professed love of him. His plan misfires when Cordelia, his youngest and favourite daughter, refuses to flatter her father; she is disinherited and banished.This LibriVox recording marks the 400th anniversary of the first performance of the play, on December 26th 1606. (Summary by David Barnes)LibriVox trivia….. This entire project was completed in just a week, from ...

Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's famous tragedy of two "star-crossed lovers" from rival houses. Romeo and Juliet meet at a party and fall instantly in love, realizing too late that their families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are mortal enemies. Braving parental opposition, the teenage lovers marry in secret, with the aid of the well-intentioned Friar Lawrence. Yet, as Shakespeare has often observed, the course of true love does not run smoothly, and Romeo and Juliet must risk death to be together. (summary by Elizabeth Klett)Cast:Escalus: David MuncasterParis: mbMontague: Chris ...

La tragedia de Hamlet, príncipe de Dinamarca (título original en inglés: The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark), o simplemente Hamlet, es una tragedia del dramaturgo inglés William Shakespeare.​ Su autor probablemente basó Hamlet en dos fuentes: la leyenda de Amleth y una perdida obra isabelina conocida hoy como Ur-Hamlet o Hamlet original (hecho que se deduce de otros textos). El año concreto en que fue escrita sigue aún en disputa, cuestión que se complica porque se han conservado a la época actual tres versiones tempranas de la obra, conocidas como First Quarto (Q1), ...

Macbeth cuenta una historia de crimen y castigo entreverada de brujería y elementos sobrenaturales. Amparado en las engañosas profecías de las Hermanas Fatídicas, brujas o diosas del destino, Macbeth decide asesinar a su rey y tomar la corona. Consciente del horror al que se entrega, forja su terrible destino y se deja poseer por el mal que nace del ansia de poder, creyéndose invencible y eterno. Esta obra tenebrosa e inquietante, de acción vertiginosa, es también profundamente introspectiva. A través de un lenguaje metafórico y sensorial, la obra indaga en lo prohibido, explora la ...

A Holy Day in 1495. Join the crowd streaming towards a temporary outdoor stage and be entertained (and maybe even instructed) by a performance of Everyman by the Guild of LibriVox Readers. Cast:(in order of appearance)Narrator - AnniseMessenger - ElliGod - Neeru IyerDeath - Denny SayersEveryman - Bob ShearmanFellowship - Tricia GCousin - Chris CaronKindred - David LawrenceGoods - Elizabeth KlettGood-Deeds - Marian MartinStrength - David ColeDiscretion - Laurie Anne WaldenFive-Wits - Barry EadsBeauty - Lucy PerryKnowledge - Arielle LipshawConfession - Ruth GoldingAngel - KalyndaDoctor - Cori ...

Sir Thomas More is a collaborative Elizabethan play by Anthony Munday and others depicting the life and death of Thomas More. It survives only in a single manuscript, now owned by the British Library. The manuscript is notable because three pages of it are considered to be in the hand of William Shakespeare and for the light it sheds on the collaborative nature of Elizabethan drama and the theatrical censorship of the era. The play dramatizes events in More's life, both real and legendary, in an episodic manner in 17 scenes, unified only by the rise and fall of More's fortunes. (Summary by ...

Troilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380s. Many Chaucer scholars regard it as the poet's finest work. As a finished long poem it is certainly more self-contained than the better known but ultimately uncompleted Canterbury Tales. Criseyde, the daughter of the seer Calchas, lives alone in Troy after her father abandons the Trojans to help the Greeks. Eventually she catches ...

Troy, Athens, Rome... each has its founding legend. So too does the Lincolnshire town of Grimsby, once the largest fishing port in the world.Havelok the Dane probably derives from a folk-tale, orally passed down before assuming written form - first in Anglo-Norman French, later in Middle English verse (c. 1280-1300). It tells of the rescue of the Danish prince from a wicked regent, who has tried to procure Havelok's murder. Grim the fisher, the appointed hit-man, thwarts the plan by spiriting the lad to England, where Grim settles with his family on the coast, adopting Havelok as his ...

King Arthur lies at Camelot upon a Christmas-tide and will not eat until he hears tell of a marvel of knightly feats. In among them rides the Green Knight and challenges any knight of the Table Round to the beheading game; one of them, he suggests, can strike off his head and, at the end of a year, if he survives, he will then strike off his beheader's. Gawain accepts the challenge and strikes off his head; the Green Knight gathers up his head and charges him to meet him at the year's end at the Knight's Green Chapel to receive the fatal blow. What betides him on his journey, how he falls into...