Theatre Collection

The Lux Radio Theatre was one of the most prestigious and longest running shows from Radio’s Golden Age. It featured the greatest stars in Hollywood appearing in hour-long radio adaptations of their biggest motion pictures. Cecil B. DeMille was the host (from 1936-1945) for a lavish production of what was to become a veritable checklist of many of Hollywood’s best films from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. The stars of the movie usually appeared in their audio counterparts, although sometimes contracts or schedules meant that another actor took the part.

The Lux Radio Theatre was one of the most prestigious and longest running shows from Radio's Golden Age. It featured the greatest stars in Hollywood appearing in hour-long radio adaptations of their biggest motion pictures. Cecil B. DeMille was the host (from 1936-1945) for a lavish production of what was to become a veritable checklist of many of Hollywood's best films from the mid -1930s through the mid -1950s. The stars of the movie usually appeared in their audio counterparts, although sometimes contracts or schedules meant that another actor took the part.

In this wide-ranging collection our authors look at every facet and detail of theatre life. From the worries and lives of the actors to what can happen when a theatre is the prime location on which the story depends, be it comedy, theft, the bizarre and even murder.

A selection of Euripides’ renowned Greek tragedies, adapted for BBC Radio Acclaimed by Aristotle as ‘the most tragic of the poets’, Euripides was one of the pre-eminent playwrights of 5th century Athens. Included here are seven of his masterpieces: powerful, shocking tales of passion...

Entrenched in a conflict over slave labor, the industrialized North and slave-powered South of the mid-1800s became entangled in the only war to be waged between Americans on U.S. soil. The Civil War, infamously known as the bloodiest military conflict to date, engaged three million Americans, claiming the lives of over half a million.

The mythical legends and historical allure of the old west come galloping onward with The Old West Collection: Amazing Legends and Incredible Tales of the American West. This thundering audio compendium celebrates the epic events of America's frontier, whether rediscovering the California gold rush at Sutter's Mill in '49 or recreating the outsize personalities of John Jacob Astor to Belle Starr and Billy the Kid. From racing on horseback for Oklahoma land in '89 to Dodge and Last Chance Gulch.

BBC adaptations of the 19th-century humourist’s best-loved tales, plus Judith French’s sly comedy based on Jerome’s experiences as a would-be actor Jerome K Jerome is best known for his comedy classic Three Men in a Boat and its sequel Three Men on the Bummel. Both hilarious tales are...

Kafka’s finest works adapted for BBC radio – plus a biographical play, three discussion pieces and the award-winning Kafka The Musical A lawyer by day, Franz Kafka spent his nights writing visionary stories and novels exploring bureaucracy, power and alienation – iconic fiction that gave...

De Colette à Sacha Guitry, les plus grandes plumes du XXe siècle se dévoilent dans l'émotion incomparable de leur propre voix. Timbres singuliers, silences habités, souffle de l'Histoire, le coffret « La Voix des auteurs », réalisé par Olivier Julien offre l'expérience intime et patrimoniale d'une littérature incarnée. Un fonds sonore de référence où la littérature devient présence.

A superb selection of Emlyn Williams’ finest plays Emlyn Williams was one of the brightest stars of Welsh stage and screen. An acclaimed playwright, actor and director, he made over 40 film and TV appearances, re-invented the one-man show with his virtuoso portrayals of Charles Dickens and...

A collection of some of William Trevor’s most acclaimed works, as heard on BBC Radio William Trevor was an Irish literary legend. In a 40-year career, he published a multiplicity of novels, plays, and short stories, and received numerous awards and honours. He was often compared to Chekhov for...

A collection of original radio dramas by the much-loved Irish literary legend One of Ireland’s greatest contemporary authors, William Trevor won the Whitbread Prize three times, and was shortlisted four times for the Man Booker Prize. He received an honorary CBE in 1977 for his services to...

An anthology of plays and original radio dramas from the prolific playwright Born and brought up in the East End of London, Bernard Kops came to fame in the late 1950s as part of British drama’s ‘New Wave’. A lyrical chronicler of Jewish family life, he is often compared to Arnold Wesker...

Shyama Perara is a writer and journalist who writes clearly, succinctly and passionately on a number of issues. In this collection she turns her knowing eye and insightful mind to British Theatre and the recent plays that come before audiences from the largest of West End theatres to the smallest of pop-ups. It’s a treat!

In this enchanting first novel, an irrepressibly optimistic oddball orphan is thrust into the wilds of postwar New York City after an extraordinary childhood in a theater—Candide by way of John Irving, with a hint of Charles Dickens Abandoned as an infant by his actress mother in her theater...

Choephori, or The Libation Bearers, is the second in the Oresteian trilogy on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. It deals with the reunion of Agamemnon‘s children, Electra and Orestes, and their revenge upon their mother Clytemnestra for the murder of Agamemnon, which takes place in the first play, Agamemnon. The title refers to the chorus of libation bearers who supports and encourages Electra and Orestes in their quest for justice. The Oresteia is the only extant example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy.

For three generations of travelers, Route 66 was the highway that linked America together. It was The Mother Road and there was never another like it. Hear the stories of the tourists, the Okies, the wartime GI’s, the people who ran the tourist courts and cafés…the famous and infamous. There’s history in the Land of Lincoln, a cave in Missouri, Indian jewelry in New Mexico, a jackalope in Arizona and the Santa Monica Freeway at the end of the road.

Selected plays by the great playwright Joe Orton, plus bonus material Joe Orton was among the towering geniuses of 1960s theatre. His life was tragically cut short in 1967, but he left behind him a handful of shocking and scabrous black comedies that will live on in the public imagination for...