Titus Andronicus (Abridged) Audiobook

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

Bishop T. D. Jakes is one of the world’s most widely recognized pastors and a New York Times bestselling author of over thirty books. Named by Time magazine as “America’s Best Preacher,” his message of healing and restoration is unparalleled, transcending cultural and denominational barriers. Jakes is the founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House, which has a congregation of over thirty thousand. His weekly television outreach, The Potter’s House, and his daily television program, The Potter’s Touch, have become favorites throughout America, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Jakes lives in Dallas with his wife, Serita.

Anthony Quayle (1913–1989) was an English actor and director who began his career on stage in 1931. Tall, burly, round-faced, and possessed of a powerful and resonant voice, he was mentored early on in his career by the well-known stage director Tyrone Guthrie. In 1936, he appeared on Broadway in The Country Wife and had roles in eight more productions, earning a Tony Award nomination in 1956 and winning a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance in Sleuth in 1971. From 1948 to 1956, he was director of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, bringing into the company some of the biggest stars of the stage, including Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud. In motion pictures he often portrayed authority figures, such as his role in Lawrence of Arabia, or was used in historical epics due to his classical training, such as his performance as Cardinal Wolsey in Anne of the Thousand Days, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Over the years, he consolidated his position as a Shakespearean actor, and his voice was heard as narrator of Shakespeare classics, of The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and on radio in anything from The Ballad of Robin Hood to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Purloined Letter.

Sir Michael Hordern (1911–1995) was an acclaimed English actor of stage and screen. He performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London, and he starred in over a hundred films and television shows. Throughout his career he earned a BAFTA Award for Best Actor and was knighted by the Queen of England for his services to the performing arts.

Dame Judi Dench, one of the foremost actors of our day, has won numerous major awards for her work on both stage and screen, including an Academy Award, ten BAFTAs, and a record eight Laurence Olivier Awards. In recognition of her many achievements she received an OBE in 1970, became a DBE in 1988, and in 2005 was awarded a Companion of Honour.

Edoardo Ballerini, an American actor, director, film producer, and multiaward–winning narrator. He has won several Audie Awards for best narration, including for 2019’s Best Male Narrator of the Year. He was named by Booklist as winner of their 2023 Voice of Choice Award, and was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, from classics to modern masters, from bestsellers to the inspirational, from Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners to spine-tingling series, and much more. In television and film, he is best known for his roles in A Murder at the End of the World, The Sopranos, 24, I Shot Andy Warhol, Dinner Rush, and Romeo Must Die. He is also trained in theater and continues to do much work on stage.