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6) Coriolanus
ACT IScene 1. Mark Antony, together with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, is one of the three Triumvirs who rule the Roman Empire. But Antony is slavishly in love with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, and shows no interest in affairs of state.Scene 2. Members of Cleopatra's entourage amuse themselves consulting a soothsayer. Antony learns that his wife Fulvia, who has been in rebellion against Caesar, is dead. Forces opposed to the Triumvirs are having considerable
...8) Cymbeline
ACT I Scene 1. Imogen, daughter of King Cymbeline of Britain, has angered father by marrying Posthumus. Cymbeline himself reared the orphaned Posthumus, his own two sons having been abducted in infancy. The wicked queen (whose son Cloten was Cymbeline's preferred match for Imogen) pretends kindness to the young couple. Before Posthumus leaves for exile in Rome, Imogen gives him a ring, receiving in return a bracelet.Scene 2. Cloten's attendants
...ACT IScene 1. King Henry's plans to lead a crusade to the Holy Land are frustrated when he hears that an English army under Edmund Mortimer has been defeated by the Welsh chieftan Owen Glendower. Henry reveals that Harry Percy, known as Hotspur, has defeated the Scottish Earl of Douglas in battle. Thinking of his son, unruly Hal, the King envies the valiant Hotspur's father, the Lord Northumberland. The King's council is to convene on the following
...10) Henry IV, Part 2
Prince Hal parts from his past to fulfill his royal destiny in this essential conclusion to Henry IV, Part 1.
Rebellion still simmers in England and King Henry's health is failing. Prince Hal has proved his courage but the king still fears that his son's pleasure-loving nature will bring the realm to ruin. Meanwhile, Falstaff and his ribald companions waste the nights in revelry, anticipating the moment when Hal will ascend the throne.
...11) Henry VI, Part 1
The all-conquering King Henry V is dead and the throne is occupied by his infant son, Henry VI. The good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester has been appointed protector, but a struggle for power soon develops between the young king's Lancastrian relatives and the powerful house of York under Richard Plantagenet. Meanwhile the French, led by Joan of Arc, the maid of Orleans, threaten to win back the territories lost to Henry V.
12) Henry VI, Part 2
Rife with intrigue and treachery, this history play depicts the onset of the fifteenth-century Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York.
Young King Henry VI has married the beautiful Margaret of Anjou but the new queen is ruthless and ambitious. Supported by the powerful Duke of Suffolk, Margaret plots the overthrow of her enemies, chief among them the Duke of Gloucester. But the Duke of York also aspires to the crown, and
...13) Henry VI, Part 3
The monstrous power of one of Shakespeare's most memorable characters, Richard Plantagenet, emerges in Henry VI, Part 3, a portent of things to come.
The Yorkists have been temporarily victorious and the Duke of York has assumed the throne, but the Lancastrians, led by Queen Margaret, counter-attack. As the fortunes of war shift, both the innocent and the guilty are swept up in the maelstrom. And increasingly dominant amid the chaos
...14) Richard II
Shakespeare's finest verse play is also his first portrait of the psychology of power.
The sensitive and poetic Richard II is undoubtedly the rightful king of England but he is unscrupulous and weak. When his cousin Henry Bolingbroke returns from banishment and mounts a challenge to his authority, Richard's right to the throne proves of little help to him. Richard is forced to abdicate, but as his power is stripped away, he gains dignity
...15) The Tempest
This haunting drama of vengeance and forgiveness crowns the group of tragicomic romances that Shakespeare composed at the end of his career. Sometimes read as his farewell to the stage, the play contains some of Shakespeare's most lyrical verse.
Prospero, wise Duke of Milan, has been deposed by Antonio, his wicked brother, and exiled with his daughter Miranda to a mysterious island. But Prospero possesses supernatural powers. Aided by the
...Chaos and confusion mount to a crescendo in a wild and fast-paced comedy of mistaken identity, one of Shakespeare's earliest plays.
Young Antipholus of Syracuse is searching the world for his identical twin brother, separated from him at birth. With him is his servant Dromio, who lost his twin brother at the same time. The pair arrive in Ephesus where, unbeknownst to them, their twins are living.
Antipholus of Syracuse is played by
...17) Henry VIII
King Henry is married to Katherine of Aragon, but he has been smitten by the charms of the queen's maid of honor, Anne Bullen, and is tempted to divorce his dignified and noble wife.
Meanwhile, the lords of England resent the influence of Henry's trusted advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, who is gradually drawing power into his own hands. As Katherine and Wolsey suffer their tragic falls, new figures rise to fill their places, but they, too, will
...18) King John
King John of England is pitted against the united powers of France, Brittany, Austria, and the papacy. Will England be destroyed by his fatal indecision?
As alliances are made, broken, and remade, the paranoid and erratic John reveals his weakness and reliance on those around him—including his powerful mother Queen Elinor and Faulconbridge, the cynical and witty bastard son of the dead King Richard I.
In this early history play,
...A play replete with puns and double-entendres, this is one of Shakespeare's earliest and most lighthearted.
The young king of Navarre and three of his courtiers have vowed to lock themselves away for three years of study and fasting, and to forswear the company of women for this period. No sooner is their vow made than it is tested, however, as the princess of France and three of her ladies arrive in Navarre on a diplomatic mission. The young
...20) Pericles
Pericles, Prince of Tyre, undergoes a tyrant's fury, storm, and shipwreck. He wins love and suffers loss, but what is lost may also be found.
With the ancient poet Gower acting as narrator, we follow the adventures of Pericles from young manhood to maturity. This strange and powerful tale of loss and recovery is the first in the group of romance comedies created by Shakespeare at the end of his dramatic career.
Sir John Gielgud plays
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