Julius Caesar

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Kelsey Grammer, full cast

Length: 2 hrs

Publisher's summary

The skies over ancient Rome blaze with terrifying portents, and soothsayers warn Julius Caesar of approaching doom. As conspiracy swirls through the city, Shakespeare explores the deep repercussions of political murder on the human heart. A classic tale of duplicity, betrayal and murder, masterfully performed by an all-star, all-American cast in this BBC co-production.

Public Domain (P)1995 L.A. Theatre Works

Critic reviews

"This is pure and compelling radio drama." (Los Angeles Times)

Amazing performance!

This was a simple delight to listen to! I only knocked off one star because the audio could’ve been better but it is most assuredly not a distraction from this amazing cast. When Shakespeare is performed well, it is not difficult to follow! All too often the actors just read their lines. John de lancie as Cassius is amazing. Stacy Keach, Richard Dreyfus and Kelsey Grammer are spectacular! If you ever wanted to listen to Julius Caesar pick this one!!

Shakespeare can be hard to understand,

But if you have a dictionary, the story is good. I think it would be better to watch, than to just listen to or read, however. The dramatization was great. And it provided great historical background to my current academic study!

Julius Caesar - the full story

Any additional comments?

This audio book came in handy because I attended a performance of Julius Caesar at the end of a long long twelve hour day. Most of us went back to the hotel at intermission out of sheer exhaustion. I regretted missing the ending - all my life I thought it ended when they killed Caesar. But there was a whole lot more! All the conspirators are killed. I wanted to hear the ending, so I bought this audio book soon after ducking out on the performance.

The performance is great, but to get used to the language, I looked up the script online - this is in the public domain after five hundred years - and followed along with the dialogue until I felt I could follow it just by listening. Thank you Shakespeare for modernizing the English language and giving us so many great stories.

Kickass Mark Antony

Because the funeral eulogy of Brutus and Mark Antony is some of the best poetry that has ever been written I'm really picky about how those speeches are recited. This version of the whole play is o witb

Devious

John de Lancie as Cassius is pure gold. I knew I recognized the voice, such a compelling performance. I had to look the credits up on the L.A. Theatre Works web site afterward to be sure. He really stole the show.

The audio is definitely on the quiet side and hard to make out at times, what with all the scheming at all. But the great ensemble cast really brings this great play to life.

Beware the Idea of March..

A classic.. And still relevant.. Because the crisis of leadership is still what makes or breaks efforts to lead.. The doors to peace, which remain open, are still the ones that anyone can enter upon ..

Thank you!

I loved listening to this audible as I read through the play for my high school class.

Awful sound

Sound is awful. Worse audio than on a fm radio. Impossible to follow the book.

Hard to understand using #4 Audio

I think I should have downloaded the enhanced audio version, because it was pretty hard for me to understand most of the lines. I had to keep the audio up all of the way just to try and understand it, and even that didn't help during the whispering scenes.