Showing titles in Drama & Plays

Despite his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, Chekhov was a prolific writer and produced more than 250 short stories in addition to several novellas and a novel. The Russian was also a practicing doctor. A celebrated playwright, Anton Chekhov is often recognised as an influential figure of early modernism of the theatre in addition to being held in high esteem by the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf, although much praise was not as forthcoming until after his death in 1904.

The three Theban plays by Sophocles - Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone - are great landmarks of Western theatre. They tell the story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who was destined to suffer a terrible fate - to kill his father, marry his mother, and beget children of the incestuous union. He does this unknowingly but still has to suffer terrible consequences, which also tragically affect the next generation.

This collection of three of Henrik Ibsen's most well-known and important plays is voiced by a sparkling cast and features music, SFX and a full soundscape. Born in 1828, Norwegian playwright, theatre director and poet Ibsen, wrote in Danish yet lived for many years in Italy and Germany. Heralded as one the most distinguished dramatists after Shakespeare, by the early 20th century A Doll's House became the world's most performed play.

A gritty reimagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, this brand new modern-day audiobook adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic love story is full of passion, emotion, scandal, disillusionment and family fallout. An amateur dramatics company in a suburban corner of nowhere. Two men with very different lives, brought together when cast in the roles of Romeo and Juliet - 'as Shakespeare would have it', in the words of their eccentric and enigmatic director. Though the elicit romance doesn’t only play out on the stage.

Pallavi is an aspiring writer living in California. Her mother, Usha, is thousands of miles away in Delhi - and obsessed with finding her daughter a husband. In Madhuri Shekar’s ingenious Evil Eye, hilarious back-and-forth via phone and social media takes a shocking, supernatural twist when Pallavi meets the perfect man - leading to a climactic showdown that will leave listeners on the edges of their seats.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet , is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others".

Paterson Joseph, John Hurt, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter are among the cast of BBC Radio 4's epic full-cast dramatisation. Adapted for radio by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Leo Tolstoy's epic story follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. First broadcast on New Year's Day 2015, the drama also features Alun Armstrong, Natasha Little, David Calder, Phoebe Fox, Sam Reid and Joanna David. Duration: 10 hours approx.

Graeme Malcolm, Eric Stoltz, and other accomplished actors bring life to the words of the world's favorite poets, including William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Also available: The Best Poems of All Time, Volume 2.

Omar Sharif leads an all-Egyptian cast in this three-part drama, recorded entirely in Egypt's capital. Adapted from Naguib Mahfouz's novels, this is a gripping family saga, with a monstrous father, a loving mother, and four children. It is set in seductive Cairo from 1917 to 1953, against a backdrop of political upheaval.

As the old sailor's adage goes, a woman on board invites bad luck, a superstation that turned out to be true for the enemies of notorious pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As quick to draw their cutlasses as they were to fall in love, Anne and Mary sailed the Caribbean leaving a trail of looted treasure, outfoxed law enforcement, and treacherous ex-lovers (suitably dealt with) in their wake. This series explores themes of equality, freedom, love and survival.

This Hindi play by Mohan Rakesh debuted in 1958 and is considered the first modern Hindi play. The play received a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for best play in 1959. Before this play was written, Hindi plays were either idealistic or didactic, devoid of any connection with contemporary reality; above all their language remained the language of literature, which wasn't suitable for the stage. This play changed it all. Mohan Rakesh went on to write two more plays and left one unfinished at the time of his death in 1972.

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.

This is a bitter, satiric comedy which concerns a wealthy, lecherous old man who pretends to be dying in order to profit from his greedy acquaintances. 

This multicast dramatisation of Arabian Nights: Volume 1 is an Audible Original reenvisioning of three iconic tales - with a twist. Adapted by the great Marty Ross, whose previous audio dramas include Romeo and Jude, Dark Shadows, Doctor Who and Blood and Stone, listeners can expect to hear Sheherezade, Ali Baba & 40 Thieves and Julnar the Sea Born as they've never done before.

Originally published in 1778, Evelina is Frances Burney's first and most beloved novel. It was a landmark in the development of the novel of manners and went on to influence such enduringly popular authors as Jane Austen. By turns hilarious and grim, witty and lyrical, the story follows young Evelina as she leaves the seclusion of her country home and enters into late eighteenth-century London society - both its pleasures and its dangers. Life in eighteenth-century England is vividly rendered as Evelina is educated in the ways of the world and, eventually, love.

To mark the birth cenetary of Saadat Hasn Manto in 2012, Zambeel Dramatic Readings presented a selection of his plays from the series titled Aao. Manto wrote these short plays in Mumbai specifically for radio and the collection was published in 1940. Amongst these, Aao Kahaanai Likhein (Come, let's write a story) is mentioned in All India Radio 1939 progress report as one of the most successful production of the series.

Friendship, betrayal, wisdom, humour, epic romance, jealousy, adventure, bravery and murder. There's everything in those iconic Shakespeare stories. His work transcends generations and appeals endlessly to other writers. His dramatic structures are both simple and complicated, intertwined with numerous relationships, which reappear in our lives again and again. This iconic collection of Shakespeare tales includes 20 of his most prominent works adapted by Edith Nesbit and transformed into modern English.

Enjoy the most notable plays of William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello. Shakespeare was known for his writings on tragedies and these four works are known to be some of the finest tragedies ever written.

Three Men on the Bummel, also titled Three Men on Wheels, is a humorous novel by Jerome K. Jerome, published in 1900, 11 years after his best seller, Three Men in a Boat. This time, the three companions J, George, and Harris take a bicycle tour through the Black Forest in Germany. Besides the bicycling travelogue, humorous vignettes or "set pieces" are constructed by a gradual accumulation of detail, including commentary on German culture from the point of view of a British tourist, and sitcom-like scenarios of the interactions between the characters. 

A dynamic remastering of the original BBC Radio 4 full-cast serial - Fit the First to Fit the Sixth - which spawned a phenomenal hitchhiking legend. The original series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, remastered by Dirk Maggs (director of the Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases) to give a full, vibrant sound, now with Philip Pope’s version of the familiar theme tune and specially re-recorded announcements by John Marsh.