Random Dramatic Works Podcasts

This story opens at a fashionable dinner party in Sir Robert Chiltern’s home in the heart of London’s stylish Grosvenor Square. One of Lady Chiltern’s old school-friends, Mrs. Cheveley, a woman with a dubious past, accosts Sir Robert and threatens to expose a financial crime that he had once participated in, unless he agrees to finance a fraudulent construction project that she’s promoting. Lady Chiltern is astounded when her husband who had been the severest critic of this project suddenly begins to speak in its favor. Yet she has secrets of her own, which she desperately needs to hide. Behind the lives of this fashionable set who inhabit the higher echelons of political life in England lie some very unsavory truths. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde was wildly popular when it was first staged on January 3, 1895 and has remained one of his most performed and studied works ever since. Critics and audiences alike thoroughly enjoyed this tale of blackmail, mystery and high level political corruption. Garnished with Wilde’s inimitable witty one liners, the play combines an airy lightness with a solid underpinning of thought provoking ideas. The concept of public and private honor, the place of a woman in her husband’s life, society, marriage, femininity and feminism and what Mrs. Cheveley calls the “fine art of living” are some of the important themes explored in this play which takes place over just twenty-four hours in the lives of the characters. The play clocked more than a hundred performances in its first outing itself and has continued to delight viewers and readers ever since. It has been filmed at least four times, with the latest screen adaptation being in 1999, starring Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett. Several television, audio and radio adaptations have been made. Some of the memorable quotes from the play include “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance!” “When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers” “Even you are not rich enough Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.” An Ideal Husband is relevant, especially today, more than a hundred years after it was first written, in this age of extreme media focus on the private lives of celebrities. It also takes a long hard look at the crumbling facade of Victorian upper class life in the closing years of the nineteenth century. For enthusiasts of Wilde’s delightful wit, almost endless banter between characters, mannered comedies and the subtle portrayal of the underlying tragedy of life, An Ideal Husband is indeed a great story to read!

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: An Ideal Husband, audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Oscar Wilde, play

His name has become a metaphor for one who will never grow old. Peter Pan by JM Barrie is the story of a boy who remains a boy while the world around him changes. Sir James Mathew Barrie was a Scottish playwright and novelist whose works were received with great critical and commercial success in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He discovered the main inspiration for his creative genius in his friendship (and later guardianship) with the children of Arthur and Sylvia Llewellyn-Davies. The Llewellyn-Davies boys, five in number and related to the famous Du Maurier family, featured in many of Barrie’s stories and plays and some of these works were written specifically for them. Peter Pan was first introduced as a character in one of Barrie’s stories, The Little White Bird in 1901. Consequently, he appeared in a few other stories and plays and finally in 1904 made his debut in a full length play, Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. Following the phenomenal success of the play, Barrie transformed it into a novel in 1911 entitled Peter and Wendy. Peter Pan is pure and delightful fantasy. Peter’s character is far from a “perfect child.” He is selfish, foolish, thoughtless and ignorant and this is where the real appeal of the book lies. Readers are preconditioned to believe that childhood and children must always be portrayed as good and innocent. However, Barrie portrays Peter in all his authentic humanity and that’s what makes him so endearing because we truly see ourselves in Peter Pan. The descriptions are fascinating in their detail and intricacy, the dialog and conversations are absolutely spot on and Neverland is a brilliant example of the Utopia we all seek in its perfection and completeness. Captain Hook is a truly evil villain, while Tinkerbell shines in all her haughty magic. For readers who have only seen the saccharine sweet Disney version, the original Peter Pan may come as a surprise! Peter Pan cajoles Wendy Darling and two more boys to fly with him to Neverland to become the surrogate family of the Lost Boys there. A series of adventures follows, including scary encounters with Captain Hook and the vicious Tiger Lily. In fact, many readers have found the tale to be quite a disturbing Victorian fantasy about motherhood and emotional immaturity. Whatever the interpretation, Peter Pan remains one of the most brilliant and definitive portrayals of childhood and children.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, free audio books, J. M. Barrie, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Peter Pan, Teen/Young adult

In a tiny French dukedom, a younger brother usurps his elder brother’s throne. Duke Senior is banished to the Forest of Arden along with his faithful retainers, leaving his lovely daughter Rosalind behind to serve as a companion for the usurper’s daughter, Celia. However, the outspoken Rosalind soon earns her uncle’s wrath and is also condemned to exile. The two cousins decide to flee together and join Duke Senior in the forest. Meanwhile, a young nobleman, Orlando is thrown out of his home by his cruel older brother Oliver. He too finds his way into the forest. What follows is absolutely captivating and a typical Shakespearean comedy! As You Like It was printed in the First Folio in 1623 though there is evidence to show that it was performed quite regularly after its presumed creation between 1598-1600. Though a very popular play and one that has been invariably brought to stage, As You Like It is not considered to be the finest of Shakespeare’s works. George Bernard Shaw commented that it was devoid of the “high artistry” that marked the great playwright. However, others like critic Harold Bloom have found Rosalind to be one of Shakespeare’s great heroines. The complicated twists and turns in the plot, elaborate disguises and gender reversals, the importance of love and forgiveness, the contrast between court and forest and the antics of Touchstone, the Fool who accompanies Duke Senior to the forest all make this a delightful play to view and to read. This is also one of Shakespeare’s most musical plays. There are plenty of songs incorporated into the body of the play, adding to the rural charm of the pastoral landscape. “Under the Greenwood Tree,” “Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind” and “It was a Lover and his Lass” are some of the famous songs that feature in As You Like It. The play is also famous for one of the most widely quoted passages in literature: “All the World’s a Stage” spoken by the melancholy Jacques, who is Duke Senior’s faithful lord and has vowed to stay with him throughout his troubles. The portrayals of the Seven Ages of Man, from birth till death is one of the immortal examples of Shakespeare’s deep insight into the human condition. As You Like It is indeed a delightful and charming play and one that will provide hours of entertaining reading!

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: As You Like It, audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, play, William Shakespeare

A secret shared by four convicts and two prison guards, a daughter in search of her missing father, a strange gift of a single pearl received every year, a fabulous treasure buried in the ancient Agra Fort in India, an eccentric detective being consulted to solve a deadly puzzle. All these events are set against the turbulent backdrop of the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 in the second Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four. Mary Morstan, a lovely young woman, comes to the Baker Street lodgings shared by Holmes and Dr Watson. Her mother died when she was very little and her father, an army Captain stationed in India, sent the child back to England to live in a boarding house. She had never seen her father, but ten years earlier, when she was seventeen she received a letter from him saying he had retired, was on his way home and asking her to meet him at the Langham Hotel in London. However, at the Langham, she discovers that her father stepped out the previous evening and never returned. Since then, every year, on her birthday she has been receiving a present from an anonymous giver. It is a very expensive, lustrous, single pearl. And now, she has received a mysterious letter asking her to come to the Lyceum Theater at seven in the evening, bringing two friends with her. For Sherlock Holmes, this is an enigma that’s simply crying out to be solved! Added to this are masterly touches that provide more insights into Holmes’ unconventional persona. His uncanny ways of tracking through sight, sound and smell, his knowledge of diverse subjects and his fondness for obscure quotations in foreign languages are all aspects that went into the creation of the immortal detective. Following the publication of The Sign of the Four, Doyle began concentrating on the short story format featuring Holmes and Watson. This met with immediate success and led to a revived interest in the novels and the rest, as they say, became literary history. The Sign of the Four has been adapted extensively on stage, screen, TV and radio. In fact, more than eighteen different film versions have been made since 1913-2013, marking a century of perennial interest in the maverick sleuth and his faithful assistant!

Categories: Arts

Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, MYSTERY, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four

This unique tale is narrated by a lovely, gentle horse named Black Beauty and has remained a children’s classic since it was first published in 1877. It earned eternal name and fame for its author Anna Sewell, an invalid who died within a few months of publication. According to current estimates, it has sold more than fifty million copies world wide, been translated into many languages and delighted generations of children. The original title page reads: Black Beauty: Translated from the original Equine by Anna Sewell and this gives the reader an instant glimpse into what the book will be about. As an autobiography written by a horse and told from his point of view, it was indeed an original and unique concept for the time. Strangely enough, Anna Sewell never intended the book to be exclusively read by children. She meant it to be a manual for those who worked with horses so that they would develop more compassion and kindness when dealing with these mute beasts. While it apparently talks about animals, the book is a great source of education for human beings too and teaches them how to treat each other with respect, dignity and kindness. The famous opening lines, “The first place I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow….” set the tone for the rest of the book. It traces the journey of the beautiful and noble horse, born in privileged circumstances whose life takes a turn for the tragic when her wealthy owner falls on hard times. Sold into a fashionable household, Beauty is ill-treated and uncared for till his health is finally broken. He is sold to a London cabbie and has to earn his keep pulling heavy carriages in all kinds of weather. The treatment of animals, their welfare and the conditions in which they’re kept, the often inhuman and cruel attitude of people and animal rights are some of the topics touched upon. It is a book that can be read on several levels. For child readers, it is a delightful tale told by an animal. Adults would recognize the essential humanitarian appeal made by the author. In fact, such was the impact of the book that it led to several landmark legislations regarding animal welfare in Britain and America. Filled with memorable characters, vivid descriptions and poignant scenes, Black Beauty is indeed a fabulous book to settle in with for a pleasant read.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: animals, Anna Sewell, audio books, audiobook, Black Beauty, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Teen/Young adult

An atypical piece of writing by Mark Twain, the short bawdy skit documents a conversion between Queen Elizabeth and several notable writers of the time, including Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Beaumont, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare. Despite first being published in 1880, the piece remained anonymous for a period of time, until it was later acknowledged by Twain in 1901 as his own. Comprised of humor, descriptive imagery, ribald connotations, and vulgar language, the faux conversation is simultaneously humorous and repulsing, but nonetheless a wonder for its satirical precision. Written as a fictitious dialogue between Queen Elizabeth and her guest luminaries at court, the short story is accounted in a diary entry by one of her disgusted cup-bearers who observe the scandalous conversation of scatological nature. The conversation is instigated by a thunderous and foul reeking fart as the group begins to discuss its features and origin. Each individual subsequently comments on the issue and their experiences with flatulence. The conversation then takes a different direction as the topic of sex is introduced, and the individuals discuss various customs and rumors they have heard, including sexual appetite, physical features, and shocking sexual exploits. Furthermore, the issue of poetry and religion are put forward, with Shakespeare beginning to read poetry, hence prompting the characters to discuss poets, their work and ingenuity. The narrator continues to effectively record each shocking assertion as the conversation heatedly progresses. The short piece allows the audience to witness a completely different side to Mark Twain, as he criticizes literary figures and their works through his fantastic instance of potty humor. Entertaining and humorous throughout its short but rich content, the piece is a jewel considering its characters, historical context and the lewd imperceptible style employed by the great Mark Twain. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, Erotica, fiction, free audio books, Historical Fiction, History, humor, in the Time of the Tudors, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Mark Twain, Politics, satire

If you’ve read and loved Anne of Green Gables you will surely be delighted to follow Anne’s further adventures in Anne of Avonlea. In this sequel, we find Anne Shirley teaching in Avonlea School though she continues her studies at home with Gilbert Blythe. Lucy Maud Montgomery first published the best selling Anne of Green Gables in 1908. Enthused by the amazing success of this account of a young orphan girl who arrives by mistake on Prince Edward Island, Canada, the author followed it up with five more sequels, tracing Anne’s career and life. Three other books and a couple of collections also feature Anne, her family, children and friends. The series has remained one of the firm favorites of children and older readers. Anne of Avonlea was published in 1909, immediately after the first book. It contains several of the characters present in the previous book, so readers get a feeling of comfortable continuity as they follow Anne in her new role as a student teacher. She is now officially a grownup person and part of the adult society of Avonlea village and soon plunges into a series of situations in which dismay and delight have equal share. The book has a blend of old and new characters. Her best friend, Diana Barry, her foster mom Marilla Cuthbert, Jane Andrews her favorite teacher, Gilbert Blythe her enemy turned friend and Priscilla Grant an old classmate are people the reader would have met in the earlier book. New characters like the crotchety Mr. Harrison, who owns a rude parrot appropriately called Ginger, the twins Dora and Davy Keith, Paul Irving and a few more provide lots of fun and entertainment. Anne remains as delightful as she was in the earlier book, getting in and out of various scrapes of her own creation, imaginative, gutsy and full of spirit and joie de vivre. Towards the end of the book, we find her and Gilbert charting out their future careers and planning to start university life in Redmond College which of course keeps readers eagerly awaiting the next book in the series! Touches of romance, flashes of Montgomery’s typical tongue in cheek humor, a lively and interesting heroine, wonderful descriptions of the Canadian landscape and the idyllic Prince Edward Island countryside and a host of memorable characters make Anne of Avonlea a great read especially if you’re continuing on with the entire series! All books in this series:1 Anne of Green Gables2 Anne of Avonlea3 Anne of the Island5 Anne’s House of Dreams7 Rainbow Valley8 Rilla of Ingleside More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family, Society & Culture

Tags: Anne of Avonlea, audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, History, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Lucy Maud Montgomery, play, romance, Teen/Young adult

The Symposium (Ancient Greek: Συμπόσιον) is a philosophical book written by Plato sometime after 385 BCE. On one level the book deals with the genealogy, nature and purpose of love, on another level the book deals with the topic of knowledge, specifically how does one know what one knows. The topic of love is taken up in the form of a group of speeches, given by a group of men at a symposium or a wine drinking party at the house of the tragedian Agathon at Athens. Plato constructed the Symposium as a story within a story within a story. This architecture creates the space for Plato to build his philosophy of knowledge. The speech of Socrates points out that the highest purpose of Love is to become a Philosopher, or Lover of Wisdom. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Education, Society & Culture

Tags: Ancient Texts, audio books, audiobook, Classics (antiquity), Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Languages, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Plato, The Symposium

Further Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L.M. Montgomery and is a sequel to Chronicles of Avonlea. Published in 1920, it includes a number of stories relating to the inhabitants of the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea and its region, located on Prince Edward Island. The book was published without the permission of L.M. Montgomery, and was formed from stories she had decided not to publish in the earlier Chronicles of Avonlea. Montgomery sued her publishers, L.C. Page & Co, and won $18,000 in damages after a legal battle lasting nearly nine years. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Further Chronicles of Avonlea, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Short stories

Villette was Charlotte Bronte’s last published novel. It came out in 1853, just two years before her death in 1855. It is a poignant, strangely lonely and sad work, steeped in conflict between society’s demands and personal desires. Set in the fictional town of Villette in France, it is the story of the young and intelligent Lucy Snowe, the narrator in the book. She is described by another character in the book as having “no beauty…no attractive accomplishments…” and strangely seems to lack a personal history or living relatives. Her godmother Mrs. Bretton looks after the orphaned Lucy, who suddenly leaves the house for a reason that is not made clear to readers. She finds employment as a companion to an elderly widow, Mrs. Marchmont. When her employer dies, Lucy is left without a job or prospects. Impulsively, she decides to travel to Europe and en route, meets the young and spoiled heiress, Ginevra Fanshaw, a student of a girls’ school in Villette. Lucy then travels to Villette to work first as a nanny to the principal’s children and later as a teacher. Here she encounters two men who will play a great role in her life. The young and handsome Dr. John Bretton, her godmother’s grandson, and the arrogant, bad tempered Professor Paul Emmanuel, a fellow lodger at her boarding house who gradually begins to thaw towards Lucy. The rest of the story follows Lucy’s life in Villette. Lucy Snowe is not a very lovable heroine. She is passive, secretive and yet she excites the reader’s interest and compassion and one is compellingly drawn into her story. Villette is also a novel with deep psychological underpinnings. Many have dubbed it even greater than Jane Eyre. It is also one of Bronte’s most autobiographical works. The story harks back to the time when Charlotte and Emily Bronte traveled to Brussels to work in a small pensionnat run by M. Constantin Heger and his wife. Charlotte is reputed to have fallen deeply and hopelessly in love with M. Heger. Paul Emmanuel is said to be based on Heger, while John Bretton is a fictional portrayal of George Murray Smith, her publisher who had once courter her. Villette was written at a time when Bronte was deeply depressed following the deaths of three of her siblings. It was also criticized by contemporary reviewers for its depiction of a woman’s passions and desires, something which Victorian audiences were a little shocked by. For modern day readers, Villette presents a great writer, working at the peak of her powers, overcoming personal tragedy to bring her art to the world.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Charlotte Brontë, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, romance, Villette

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a book about the life of Catherine Morland and her romantic relationships. The novel is divided into two parts; the first part begins with Catherine’s visit to Bath and her relationship with Henry Tilney and the other people she met there, and the second part starts with the arrival of Frederick Tilney and her visit to Northanger Abbey. This book alongside Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility is considered one of the major works of Jane Austen. The novel had undergone many revisions before its publication and it was even originally titled “Catherine.” It adopted the title Northanger Abbey when it was published posthumously in 1817. Catherine Morland, the main character in the book is an attractive girl in her late-teens who was invited by her family’s friends, the Allens to go with them to Bath for a holiday. There she discovered many things in life which she hasn’t known before. She met many new friends there including Isabella, who became her close friend and rival to some of her relationships. Aside from her, she also met Henry Tilney, a person who turned out to be very special to her. Catherine also met John, Isabella’s brother who’ll later attempted to propose marriage to her. Meanwhile, her brother James met Isabella during their vacation and eventually had a serious relationship with her. Northanger Abbey isn’t just a novel about the romantic relationships of the different characters in the story. It also discusses other issues in society at that time like marriage for property and financial gain and the shallow attitude of some people have when it comes to love. Many critics also call this book a “Gothic parody.” For sure, people who have already read “Sense and Sensibility” or “Pride and Prejudice,” will also love this book. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Horror/Ghost stories, jane austen, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Northanger Abbey, romance, satire

Oedipus the King (often known by the Latin title Oedipus Rex) is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 BC. It was the second of Sophocles’s three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone. Over the centuries, it has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Myths/Legends, Oedipus Rex, play, poetry, Sophocles

Nineteenth century attitudes towards marriage, the role of women, morality and the search for identity are brilliantly explored in Henrik Ibsen’s three act play, A Doll’s House. It was highly controversial and received with a sense of outrage among opinion leaders in Europe. Many thinkers like August Strindberg lashed out at Ibsen for portraying the sacred institution of marriage in such a derogatory way. A Doll’s House, written in the original Danish, was first performed at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen in 1879. The ending of the play, where the heroine, Nora decides to leave her sham of a marriage aroused the ire of many viewers and critics at that time. The play portrays Nora Helmer who is the pampered wife of a wealthy banker, Torvald Helmer. He treats Nora as a parent would pamper and indulge a child, calling her his “little squirrel” and constantly teasing and making fun of her habits and personality. When Nora’s old friend Kristine Lind drops in with a request that Nora put in a word to Torvald about finding Kristine a job in the bank, things take a dramatic and unexpected turn. Nora’s entire world turns upside down and she gradually comes to realize that she has been living a life that’s a mere facade. Though she has taken serious decisions that have protected her family, she has always been regarded as a helpless and incompetent infant. As the play progresses, Nora’s gradual realization of her own true powers and strengths lead to the stunning climax. The first English production of A Doll’s House was an adaptation by Henry Jones and Henry Herman, who re-titled it Breaking a Butterfly. English audiences were prevented from watching a real translation of the play for many decades by a ban order passed by the government. However, today with more liberal thinking, the rise of the feminist movement and a more broad and humanist ideology prevailing, A Doll’s House can be read or watched almost anywhere in the world without restrictions. As a revolutionary play that attacked the oppressive and inhuman mind-set of traditional, patriarchal social orders throughout the world, A Doll’s House is a remarkable and thought provoking work of literature. It not only addresses the place of women in society, but also that of men and how the usefulness of each is essential for healthy family life and child rearing. It is relevant even today, when perhaps such attitudes still persist though things may seem to have changed on the surface, more than a century after it was written.

Categories: Arts

Tags: A Doll's House, audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Henrik Ibsen, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, play, tragedy

Banished from his own lands by a usurping brother, Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been living on a deserted island for years, until fate brings the brother within the range of Prospero’s powers. Will he seek revenge, or reconcilement? More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, play, The Tempest, William Shakespeare

Jo’s Boys is the third book in the Little Women trilogy by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1886. In it, Jo’s “children”, now grown, are caught up in real world troubles. All three books – although fiction – are highly autobiographical and describe characters that were really in Alcott’s life. This book contains romance as the childhood playmates become flirtatious young men and women. The characters are growing up, going out into the world and deciding their futures.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Jo's Boys, Literature, Louisa May Alcott, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, romance

Written around the middle of his career, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s great festive comedies. The men are back from the war, and everyone is ready for romance. The dashing young Claudio falls for Hero, the daughter of Leonato, governor of Messina, and his friend Don Pedro helps him secure her affection. These youthful lovers are contrasted with the more experienced (and more cynical) Benedick and Beatrice, who have to be tricked into falling in love. Don Pedro’s bastard brother, Don John, provides the intrigue, and the dimwitted constable Dogberry provides the laughs.

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Much Ado About Nothing, play, William Shakespeare

In seventeenth century Venice, a wealthy and debauched man discovers that the woman he is infatuated with is secretly married to a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He shares his grief and rage with a lowly ensign in the army who also has reason to hate the general for promoting a younger man above him. The villainous ensign now plots to destroy the noble general in a diabolical scheme of jealousy, paranoia and murder, set against the backdrop of the bloody Turkish-Venetian wars. This timeless tale, Othello The Moor of Venice was one of the ten famous tragedies that William Shakespeare wrote. It is also one of his plays that has the best documented performance history. First staged on 1st November, 1604 at Whitehall Palace, it was regularly performed at the playwright’s own Globe Theater and the Blackfriars Theater in London besides touring the country as part of the repertoire of the King’s Men which was the theatrical company that Shakespeare belonged to for most of his career. Such is the power and appeal of the play that it has remained completely unchanged or unrevised over the centuries, while many other Shakespearean plays were adapted, rewritten or trimmed during the Restoration and the eighteenth century. The doomed figure of the lovely Desdemona who is murdered so cruelly by the ill-fated Othello based on a tragic misunderstanding continues to haunt playgoers and readers the world over even today. Modern performances have explored the race and class aspects of the play. Famous actors like Laurence Olivier have given legendary performances, while opera, ballet, television, film, stage, graphic novels and animation versions have kept the magnificent story alive today for audiences all over the world. Shakespeare was probably inspired by the sixteenth Italian writer Cinthio’s story titled A Moorish Captain. Many scholars have deemed this to be based on a true incident that happened in Venice in around 1508. However, only the mere skeleton of the story has been used by Shakespeare and most of the characters and sub-plots are his own dazzling creations. He may have also been influenced by the delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England in 1600. For other details like location and manners, he probably used Venetian history books and contemporary sources. Whatever the history and inspiration of the play, it remains one of the most powerful, compelling and towering works in English literature. This tale of deception, heroism, love, hatred and the demonic obsession called jealousy sparkles with brilliant lines that have entered the English language and become immortal. A majestic work by a supreme artist – Prepare to be overwhelmed!

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Othello, play, tragedy, William Shakespeare

Daisy Miller is an 1878 novella by Henry James. It portrays the confused courtship of the eponymous American girl by Winterbourne, a compatriot of hers with much more sophistication. His pursuit of her is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates they meet in Switzerland and Italy. Her lack of understanding of the social mores of the society she so desperately wishes to enter ultimately leads to tragedy.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Daisy Miller: A Study in Two Parts, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Henry James, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com