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
Claire Bloom, CBE, is an English film and stage actress, known for leading roles in plays such as Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll’s House, and Long Day’s Journey into Night, along with nearly sixty films and countless television roles, during a career spanning over six decades. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Queen’s birthday honors for services to drama.
Albert
Finney is an English actor who began work on the stage and went on to achieve
prominence in films in the early 1960s, continuing a career of over fifty years.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his first appearance
on the London stage in 1958 in The Party,
directed by Charles Laughton. Then in 1959 he appeared at Stratford in
Shakespeare’s Coriolanus opposite
Laurence Olivier. He maintained an award-winning career in theater, film, and television.
He earned his first film award in 1960, a BAFTA Award for Most Promising
Newcomer, and continued earning dozens of nominations and awards, including the
Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, through 2007 when he shared
a Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast for Before
the Devil Knows You’re Dead.