Showing results by narrator "Leanne Yau" in All Categories

Benjamin Lease Crozer Griffith (1869-1900) was a American comic playwright. The pieces in this recording come from a collection entitled Plays and Monologues which was published in 1901.

Sylvie and Bruno was the last novel completed by Lewis Carroll and was published in two parts. The first volume, which is the subject of this recording, appeared in 1889. The story is presented by an unnamed narrator, who oscillates between two worlds: a fantasy fairyland, populated by characters similar to those in Alice in Wonderland, and the real world environs of a small village by the sea, in which the narrator has taken up temporary residence for health reasons. 

King Claudius, when a young man, wrote a five-act tragedy which was damned, and all reference to it forbidden under penalty of death. The King has a son - Hamlet - whose tendency to soliloquize has so alarmed his mother, Queen Gertrude, that she has sent for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to devise some Court revels for his entertainment. Rosencrantz is a former lover of Ophelia, to whom Hamlet is betrothed, and they lay their heads together to devise a plan by which Hamlet may be put out of the way. Some Court theatricals are in preparation.

Cutting Room is set in the "Town Welfare Department" of a town in the Midlands, Burtonwood, during public sector cuts. Four characters (David, Lucy, Ian, and an intern, Anne) have to take calls from members of the public complaining about the loss of public services, with the boss Harry coming in occasionally to offer cheerful but often useless encouragement. As the cuts continue, tensions run high, with Ian in particular taking his anger and frustration out on the secretary, Tilly. At the play's conclusion there is a surprising twist.

Ten years after a tragic incident on the lake, an AA meeting in a small, religious town in the deep south of the USA descends into bitterness and chaos when a flood hits. Trapped within the local church, tempers escalate and well-buried secrets begin to emerge. Personalities clash, reputations are dissected and questioned, and everybody's demons are laid bare.

Floyd Dell has been called "one of the most flamboyant, versatile, and influential American Men of Letters of the first third of the 20th century". Though he was primarily a newspaper and magazine editor, most prominently of the radical left-wing magazine The Masses, he also published many best-selling feminist works. As a staunch advocate of feminism, socialism, psychoanalysis, and progressive education, his writing greatly shocked the American bourgeoisie at the time, to the point where it became so controversial, he was put on trial twice for his subversive literature.  

Cole, an old sea captain, lives on a ship with his daughter and her immigrant husband. The trio prepares for a deluge, while Cole meets Daphne, a mermaid who seduces and tempts him. As tensions rise with the rolling tides, Cole must make a difficult choice: take a leap into the unknown, or stay on the safe side. This is a story about connection and separation, about tolerance and the decision to cut ties.

The Yin Chih Wen, or Tract of the Quiet Way, is a religio-ethical tract which was very popular in the Middle Kingdom, but never attained the celebrity of similar texts, such as the Tao Te Ching. This recording is of the first known English translation, which was made by the eminent Buddhist scholars, D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus.

Hands Around, also known as La Ronde or Reigen, is possibly Schnitzler's most provocative and controversial work. In a series of 10 conversations occurring before or after a sexual encounter, between 10 pairs of characters from all walks of life, Hands Around offers a playful scrutiny of the sexual morals and class ideology of the era.

This collection of 10 classic tales is very representative of Wharton's approach to story-telling - in the narrative, the venue becomes a character almost as much as do the people. Situations are presented in an elegantly understated way, and the overall effect is disturbing rather than blatantly horrific.  

Anya and Chris have been divorced for 18 years. When their daughter goes into labour, they are reunited outside the maternity ward, and in the exchange that follows, they are forced to confront each other, and the awkwardness of their past, as they wait for their new grandchild to arrive.

This play forms part of a tetralogy which focuses on one of Wedekind's obsessive themes: the destructive interplay between primal sexual urges and social convention. Each play revolves around a powerful young female character, who has the power to control and captivate men, but who in turn is destroyed by the exercise of that power. In this play, the dominant female is Fräulein Elfriede von Malchus, an idealistic crusader who visits a brothel operated by the cynical impresario Casti-Piani in order to rescue a young woman who has fallen into his clutches.

Danny's mother assures him that snowmen can't talk. In this whimsical adventure, Danny discovers that her assertion is not entirely correct.

One woman learns the consequences of having a PlaceNook account when all her "friends" show up on her doorstep unannounced.

On the day of his departure to sing Tristan in Brussels, the celebrated tenor Gerardo receives three unwelcome visitors. Despite their persistent attentions, he manages to honor his singing contract, but at an unexpected personal cost.

Although he achieved notable success as a novelist, poet, essayist, and painter, August Strindberg is best known today as one of the first and most significant masters of naturalist theatre. Among his many dramatic works are a number of one-act plays, four of which are presented in this recording. All of the plays feature a persistent theme in Strindberg's works: the inevitable disillusion that results from intense involvement in relationships, whether they be familial, romantic or circumstantial.

This play is the sequel to "Earth Spirit", in which the adventurous and manipulative Lulu marries and rids herself of three husbands, only to be arrested for the murder of the third. In "Pandora’s Box", Lulu escapes from prison only to be forced in the life of a courtesan. Reduced to desperate poverty, she meets her end at the hands of murderous customer in London. In Wedekind’s sordid morality tale, all Lulu’s main associates suffer premature and unnatural deaths, except for the degenerate Schigolch, who is one of the most unpleasant characters in the European drama.

A man loses his only child in a car accident. But has she really gone? Why does he keep hearing her voice?

Six quirky radio dramas brought to you by members of The Online Stage.

This is final installment in Edith Nesbit's classic trilogy of time-traveling adventures by four enterprising children.