Romeo And Juliet Shakespeare
Romeo And Juliet Shakespeare. Shakespeare had already explored tragedy in his history plays, including Richard III, and in Titus Andronicus. The great series of tragedies, beginning with Hamlet, dates from four or five years later, and in many ways Romeo and Juliet does not belong with them. For a start, it is not a tragedy in the conventional sense because the fate of its protagonists is not a direct consequence of inherent characteristics or failings -whereas (for instance) Lear himself, through his own folly, initiates a chain reaction which leads to his downfall and death.
Romeo and Juliet, by contrast, are much more the victims of ill fortune than of their own vice or weakness, even if moralists may seek to suggest that the young lovers are punished for their intemperate lust or failure to obtain parental consent. This moralistic view is in any case certainly not Shakespeare's: in fact he lavishes upon his subjects extraordinary tenderness of language and feeling. They are 'star-crossed lovers' who ultimately bring good to Verona because their deaths shock their feuding families into reconciliation.
Shakespeare derived his play almost entirely from The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet, a poem by Arthur Brooke published in 1562. Brooke, in turn, found the story in a French version of an Italian tale whose origins go back at least to the mid-15th century. Brooke, who writes in clumsy couplets, is keen to stress the moral deficiencies of his hero and heroine - they are in thrall to 'unhonest desire', rely on 'superstitious friars' and thus are suitably punished - whereas Shakespeare, as we have already noted, is entirely in sympathy with his characters and derives much of his emotional effect from the acuteness of our identification with a couple who are romantically defiant, risking all for the sake of their love.
Romeo & Juliet Audio Book
BBC Audiobooks
Douglas Henshall, Sophie Dahl and Susannah York star in Shakespeare's passionate story of doomed love.BBC Radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard. With the intimacy of radio the full beauty and meaning of some of the most lyrical lines ever written can be truly heard: tenderness and passion, betrayal and bigotry are brilliantly evoked as the tale comes to its tragic conclusion.
The play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of the Royal National Theatre, and the accompanying booklet includes a scene-by-scene synopsis, full character analysis, brief biographies of the leading actors and of Shakespeare himself, as well as an essay from the producer on their interpretation of the play. Revitalised, original and comprehensive - this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.
Download Romeo & Juliet (BBC Audiobooks) here.
Romeo & Juliet Audio Book Online downloads
Naxos
Romeo and Juliet is the play which, in English literature at least, effectively invented the modern love story. Its charm and its power derive from the romantic setting (Verona, an Italian Renaissance city), the youthful innocence and ardour of the lovers, and (perhaps crucially) the excitement and drama created by the opposition which they have to contend with, an opposition which does not simply stem from the older generation but which is starkly present in the feud between their two families and which seems to be supported by the malignity of Fate. The richly realized context of their love is additionally enhanced by (for example) the superbly concrete character of Juliet's old Nurse, who fondly encourages the pair until the 'better' offer of Paris's love comes along. The Nurse's sentimentality and materialism are all too convincing, and are symptomatic of the way in which Shakespeare suggests that none of the other characters can match the lovers for sincerity and steadfastness, especially once the brilliant and impulsive Mercutio has gone. Youthful as they are, we see that they are the people who grow and mature as the play progresses: Romeo, as sensitive and intelligent as the later Hamlet, realises that his 'love' for Rosaline is no such thing but merely infatuation: however instant the development of his love for Juliet may be, it is 'the real thing', as is Juliet's for him. The imagery of light and religion which Shakespeare consistently bestows upon the lovers is suggestive of the truth and value of their feelings: at the masked ball where they first meet, Romeo's immediate reaction to Juliet is that 'she doth teach the torches to burn bright', and their first words to each other are all built on the conceit that he is a 'pilgrim' and she a 'saint'.The wit, tenderness, dramatic variety and poetic beauty of this play continue to work their spell: it has proved a perennial favourite inspiring, even in our century, works such as the musical West Side Story.
Download Romeo & Juliet (Naxos) here.
William Shakespeare Audio Books Download
These audiobooks are available for immediate download. Enjoy Shakespeare plays performed by top theater actors and recorded by the Shakespeare experts at BBC Radio, Naxos and others. You can download these audio books immediately now online, just clock on any of the links below:
Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
Download this Audio Book: Douglas Henshall, Sophie more...2 points
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Shakespeare Audio Books | Audio Book
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As You Like It - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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Coriolanus - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Shakespeare Audio Books | Audio Book
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Cymbeline - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Shakespeare Audio Books | Audio Book
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Hamlet - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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King Lear - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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Macbeth - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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Othello - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Shakespeare Audio Books | Audio Book
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Tempest - William Shakespeare | Arts & Drama on Audio / Dramatizations - Full Cast Audio Productions | Audio Book
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Romeo and Juliet Video
Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet Live
Late 80s Romeo & Juliet Live - Dire Straits
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 - died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.Greenblatt, Stephen (2005). Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. London: Pimlico, 11. ISBN 0712600981.? Bevington, David (2002) Shakespeare, 1?3. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0631227199.? Wells, Stanley (1997). Shakespeare: A Life in Drama. New York: W. W. Norton, 399. ISBN 0393315622. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.; ;
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry".Bertolini, John Anthony (1993). Shaw and Other Playwrights. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 119. ISBN 027100908X. In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
What exactly is a 'Drama'?
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.Elam (1980, 98). It is derived from a Greek word meaning "action" (Classical Greek / dráma), derived from "to do" (Classical Greek / drá?).
Dramas are performed in various Category: wiktionary - :media|media: theatre, radio, film, and television. Drama is often combined with music and dance: the drama in opera is sung throughout; musicals include spoken dialogue and songs; and some forms of drama have regular musical accompaniment (melodrama and Japanese N?, for example).See the entries for "opera", "musical theatre, American", "melodrama" and "N?" in Martin Banham, (ed.) The Cambridge Guide to Theatre (1yron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]] is a good example of a 'dramatic poem.' See the entries on "Seneca" and "Byron (George George)" in Martin Banham, (ed.) The Cambridge Guide to Theatre (1998). In improvisation, the drama does not pre-exist the moment of performance; performers devise a dramatic script spontaneously before an audience.Some forms of improvisation, notably the Commedia dell'arte, improvise on the basis of 'lazzi' or rough outlines of scenic action (see Gordon (1983) and Duchartre (1929)). All forms of improvisation take their cue from their immediate response to one another, their characters' situations (which are sometimes established in advance), and, often, their interaction with the audience. The classic formulations of improvisation in the theatre are Joan Littlewood and Keith Johnstone in Vancouver and Viola Spolin in the USA. See Johnstone (1981) and Spolin (1963).
Classic Literature
Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter). In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction.
