In the heart of Elizabethan England, Richard Shakespeare dreams of a glittering career in one of the London playhouses, a world dominated by his older brother, William. But he is a penniless actor, making ends meet through a combination of a beautiful face, petty theft and a silver tongue. As William's star rises, Richard's onetime gratitude is souring and he is sorely tempted to abandon family loyalty. So when a priceless manuscript goes missing,...

Venice, 1586.William Shakespeare is disguised as a steward to the English Ambassador. He and his actor friends, Oldcastle and Hemming, possess a deadly secret: the names of the Catholic spies in England who seek to destroy Queen Elizabeth. Before long the Popes agents begin to close in on them, so fleeing the city is the players only option.In Verona, Aemelia, the daughter of a Duke, is struggling to conceal her passionate affair with her cousin Valentine....

The story of a Venetian musician's daughter, Aemilia Bassano, who a decade after the death of Elizabeth I begs help from her former lover, William Shakespeare, when her son catches the plague. "The daughter of a Venetian musician, Aemilia Bassano came of age in Queen Elizabeth's royal court. The Queen's favorite, she developed a love of poetry and learning, maturing into a young woman known not only for her beauty but also her sharp mind and a quick...

Antonio, the merchant in The Merchant of Venice, secures a loan from Shylock for his friend Bassanio, who seeks to court Portia. Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, recalls past insults from Antonio and, instead of asking interest on the loan, asks instead--in what he calls a "merry sport"--That if the loan is not repaid, Antonio will owe a pound of his own flesh. Bassanio sails to Belmont, where the wealthy heiress Portia is being courted by suitors from...

Romeo and Juliet was the first drama in English to confer full tragic dignity on the agonies of youthful love. The lyricism that enshrines their death-marked devotion has made the lovers legendary in every language that possesses a literature.

A pastoral romance set in the Forest of Arden in medieval France, this story is full of kindliness, good fellowship, goodwill, and tales about all kinds of love--physical and intellectual, sentimental and cynical, enduring love between friends, and romantic love at first sight.

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, with marginal notes and explanations and full descriptions of each character.

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.

Blackstone Audio is proud to present the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of Measure for Measure, Shakespeare's compelling tragicomedy that explores restraint—and lack thereof.

Who legislates morality?

The duke's authoritarian deputy, Angelo, is hell-bent on stamping out moral decay. He reactivates outdated draconian laws and aims his arrogant crosshairs at a young man whose fiancée is pregnant, sentencing him to death. Angelo

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