Blackstone Audio is proud to present seven great plays in a collection that illustrates the development of European drama from ancient times to the threshold of the modern theater: Medea
by Euripides, The Tempest by Shakespeare, The Imaginary Invalid by Molière, Camille by Dumas, An Enemy of the People by Ibsen, Arms and the Man by
Shaw, and Uncle Vanya by Chekhov.
A superb repertory company with distinguished guest artists has been assembled here, under the direction of veteran producer Yuri Rasovsky, who has won both an Audie Award for book production and
the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting. These full performances use all the resources of audio to full advantage while keeping the substance of the works intact, resulting in both greater
intimacy and lively theatrics.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“Classic Plays is what audio theater ought to be. Rasovsky proves he is an audio showman, and this is a showcase for his great talents. These spoken works function so well in the audio medium with the scholarly manuscripts, astonishing period music, and the sumptuous cast.” —Audiobook World
“An Enemy of the People is the play Ibsen wrote, with unusual dispatch…It reflects the dramatist’s belief that the so-called ‘solid majority’ of democracy is made up largely of slow-thinking ‘serfs’; it’s the enlightened few, ‘attuned to the future,’ who by rights should rule.”
—New York Times
“From Euripides to Chekhov, the listener can experience the power of excellent theater…Well rendered period music lends suitable atmosphere; themes such as war vs. peace seem quite contemporary; witty and polished presentations enchant.” —Kliatt
“Rasovsky’s own translation is excellent—the text is more informal and idiomatic than some older renderings—and the minor editing is effective…The small cast keeps the production easy to follow.” —AudioFile
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered
the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time, and Shakespeare
was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.
Titles by Author
Author Bio: Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), French novelist and playwright, was one of the most famous and prolific French writers of the nineteenth century, producing some 250 books. He is best
known for his historical novels The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, and he was among the first authors to fully exploit the possibilities of the serial novel. He
is credited with revitalizing the historical novel in France. His works are riveting, fast-paced adventure tales that blend history and fiction.
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish-born playwright, critic, and political activist, began his writing career in London. In addition to writing sixty-three plays, his prodigious
output as critic, pamphleteer, and essayist influenced numerous social issues. In 1925, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and in 1938 an Oscar for the movie version of Pygmalion.
Titles by Author
Author Bio: Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904), the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays, is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama.
He described the Russian life of his time using a deceptively simple technique devoid of obtrusive literary devices, thereby becoming the prominent representative of the late nineteenth-century
Russian realist school. His early stream-of-consciousness style strongly influenced the literary world, including writers such as James Joyce.
Euripedes (c. 480–406 BC) was one of the great tragedians of classical Athens. He is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama in modern times and is
credited with pioneering developments that later writers adapted to comedy and romance. He also focused on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown.
Titles by Author
Author Bio: Molière
Molière, the pen name and stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622–1673), was a French actor, director, and author who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western
literature.
Titles by Author
Author Bio: Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was a major nineteenth-century Norwegian playwright, theater director, and poet. He is often referred to as “the father of prose drama” and is one of the
founders of modernism in the theater. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll’s House, Ghosts,
The Wild Duck, and The Master Builder. Several of his plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when European theater was required to model strict mores of family life and
propriety. Ibsen’s work examined the realities that lay behind many façades, revealing much that was disquieting to many contemporaries. It utilized a critical eye and free inquiry into the
conditions of life and issues of morality.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a copyright protection for digital media. While much of Blackstone Library’s content is DRM free, and allows for usage across platforms, select products on Blackstone Library are required by publishers to have DRM protected files. These products will be playable exclusively on the BlackstoneLibrary.com apps, available for iOS and Android devices.
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