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Shakespeare: The Complete Works

Argo Classics

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About this listen

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.

For the first time, the complete works of Shakespeare are available to download as one. This collection includes all 37 plays, 4 narrative poems, and the sonnets.

Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Ian McKellen, Timothy West, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi, Roy Dotrice, Prunella Scales, and many others can be heard in these recordings.

All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.

This collection brings together all of Shakespeare’s works, including:
• A Lover's Complaint
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• All's Well That Ends Well
• Antony And Cleopatra
• As You Like It
• Coriolanus
• Cymbeline
• Hamlet
• Henry IV, Pt. 1
• Henry IV, Pt. 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI, Pt. 1
• Henry VI, Pt. 2
• Henry VI, Pt. 3
• Henry VIII
• Julius Caesar
• King John
• King Lear
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Macbeth
• Measure For Measure
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Othello
• Pericles, Prince Of Tyre
• Richard II
• Richard III
• Romeo And Juliet
• Sonnets
• The Comedy Of Errors
• The Merchant Of Venice
• The Merry Wives Of Windsor
• The Phoenix and the Turtle
• The Rape Of Lucrece
• The Taming Of The Shrew
• The Tempest
• The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
• The Winter's Tale
• Timon Of Athens
• Titus Andronicus
• Troilus And Cressida
• Twelfth Night
• Venus And Adonis

Public Domain (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Classics Drama & Plays Shakespeare
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I have always found Shakespeare’s work very good, though mostly the more famous works, so I thought, I’d take the plunge and get the whole works, and while I did enjoy the play like presentation, some of the Sonnets didn’t seem to sync with the listings, but the way the players presented the plays was excellent, I’m not a great reader, reading a physical book is not my forte, Dyslexia makes it quite a challenge, and the Tudor era language, is not exactly easy to get your head around, but having the audio of real Shakespeare players feed your brain the lines through the ears, and having the ability to stop, to check meanings when needed, or even replay a passage, to clear up your understanding, as well as the not losing your place on the page, every time you finish a line, as I am prone to do with physical books, making the reading a painfully slow experience, incredibly annoying, and off putting, this way is much more enjoyable, though I found some of the works we not particularly enjoyable, many were a pleasure, well done to all who took part.

Easy Going Shakespeare

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I used an old and latest Android, and on both screens I could see the title of the plays, and they were further broken down into different chapters which I could also see on screen. I could listen to just the works I haven't seen or read.
On my very old iPod Touch I couldn't see the title of the plays but I don't have the latest Apple devices so I don't know what their screens show now.

Able to view title of the plays on Android

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These recordings date from the late 1950's to the mid 1960s. The lead parts are played by leading Shakespearian actors, the smaller parts by members of the Cambridge University Marlow Society.

Each play is done "straight". There is no agenda forced on it, and certainly no attempt to re-write or subvert the text. There is absolutely no diversity in the cast: the actors are all there on merit alone and they deliver their lines clearly and perfectly.

The age of the recordings and the changes in spoken English in the intervening half century mean that the "high" verse works better than "low" prose, but that's a small niggle. A more serious complaint is the lack of a proper cast list.

It seems to be virtually impossible to find a professional production of a Shakespeare play in England which respects the plays as these old recordings do. They are a reminder of what these plays could be if directors would stop virtue signalling and allow the plays to speak for themselves.

Classic recordings showing what we've lost

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This is a fantastic complete canvass of the Canon with some memorable performances. My only criticism is what happened to Pericles Acts 4 and 5. They are missing? Even when you try to buy the play singly on Audible the run time is still showing just over 1he 15.....ridiculous?

Superb quality but abridged Pericles

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'Heaven doth with us as we with torches do'


When fullness in a time of empty hope
Does train our eyes to seldom look away
Tis all a'cause of conscious sacrifice
'Self' bites a dusty drought these days.

Art which irks not.

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