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Measure for Measure Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Measure for Measure is one of darkest of Shakespeare’s comedies. Written in about 1603 and first performed in 1604, it immediately preceded the composition of the major tragedies Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.
Duke Vincentino, the ruler of Vienna, fears that under his mild sovereignty, the people may have become lazy and lax. He decides to “go over cover” in the disguise of a monk and appoint his deputy, Angelo, who is a reputed paragon of virtue, as temporary ruler.
On assuming power, Angelo inaugurates draconian provisions regarding sexual propriety. One of the first victims of this new regime is young Claudio, who has impregnated his lover Juliet, and is accordingly sentenced to death.
Claudio’s sister, Isabella, who is preparing to enter religious life, is encouraged to approach Angelo and plead for her brother’s life. Angelo is immediately smitten with the beautiful Isabella and makes her an offer: her brother will be spared if she yields to Angelo’s sexual advances. Isabella indignantly rejects this proposal, but finds herself unable to reveal Angelo’s hypocrisy publicly, as she fears her accusations will lack credence.
Fortunately, the Duke, who has not left Vienna, befriends Isabella in his assumed role of friar, and hatches a plan to both save Claudio and to unmask Angelo.
Featuring the voices of Denis Daly, Gary D. MacFadden, David Shears, Graham Scott, Josh Innerst, Kendra Murray, Blaise Doran, Simon Paxton, Roberta Jackson, Alexandra Lee Smith, and Alan Weyman.
Audio edited by Denis Daly
Tunes for songs provided by Alan Weyman.
The text used for this performance was kindly provided by playshakespeare.com.
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“What a comedy! Dark, tragic, heavy as the poet’s mood—a tragi-comedy, in which the unusually broad and realistic comic scenes, with their pictures of the dregs of society, cannot relieve the painfulness of the theme, or disguise the positively criminal nature of the action.”
— George Brandes, author of Shakespeare: a Critical Study
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About William Shakespeare
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.
About the Narrators
Denis Daly is an audiobook narrator and codirector of Voices of Today, an Australian spoken word production house.
Graham Scott is a narrator and voice actor based in the UK. As well as solo performances of works by authors including PG Wodehouse, Charles Dickens, R Austin Freeman, Dorothy L. Sayers, Jules Verne, Anna Katherine Green, Joseph Conrad, GK Chesterton, and John Buchan, Graham is also a regular performer in group productions with both Voices of Today and the Online Stage. Website: www.GrahamScottAudio.com
Gary MacFadden is a voice talent based in western Montana, USA. He works in commercial, e-learning, explainer videos, and audiobooks. Gary has narrated and produced over forty audiobooks, and has produced another dozen books for other narrators.