Hamlet

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Anton Lesser, full cast

Hamlet, which dates from 1600-1601, is the first in Shakespeare's great series of four tragedies. In writing this extraordinary play, Shakespeare effectively re-invented tragedy after an interval of roughly 2,000 years - you would have to go back to the Greek dramatists of fifth century Athens to find anything of comparable depth and maturity.

This production features the voice of Anton Lesser as Hamlet along with a full cast.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©1997 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd (P)1997 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd

Great version!

Where does Hamlet rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is perhaps the best audiobook I have read so far. The shortcoming of audiobooks are that if they are serious reading, then you would want to read the book, not listen to it. If it is light reading, then it's hard to pay attention and hard to care, as I am listening in the car.

What I have found is that listening to Shakespeare is perfect in audiobook form, as these are dramatic works and so you gain by listening instead of reading. And just listening is in some ways superior to watching the play because your imagination can, in most instances, do a better job of visualizing the scene.

In this particular audiobook, the sound quality is great. But more than anything else, it is very well acted. In particular, Anton Lesser does an excellent job of voicing Hamlet. He brings manic energy to the role and really gives a great personal interpretation of the Danish prince that made me rethink my interpretation of certain scenes.

Excellent.

What about Anton Lesser and full cast ’s performance did you like?

Lesser did a superb job - perhaps THE best Hamlet I have enjoyed. Of course, this is the first audio-only Hamlet I have heard... but that is the point: there is a unique advantage to audio only, especially for the tragedies and histories.

Much better than just reading the play

If you're not able to actually watch the play on stage or film, then this is perhaps the next best thing. Pretty well acted out with music and sound effects. Only real complaint is it isn't broken up into scenes and acts for easy skipping around (or if it is, I haven't figured out how to do it).

Wonderful Production

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a must listen version. The production quality and acting is just phenomenal. I can't think of a better production in the attention to detail. Just a terrific use of sound effects and music first off; they don't take anything away from the production, which is hard to do in audio only format.

What about Anton Lesser and full cast ’s performance did you like?

Anton Lesser's Hamlet is just first rate. The way he communicates the character in such an understandable way. Rarely have I empathized with a character so well. Standing ovation.

Well-mastered dramatic reading

The cast really knew what they were doing. All very expressive and controlled. Intelligent use of music. Somewhat hard to hear while listening in transit.

Excellent Copy

This is a first-rate production of the play. It's clean, complete, and well-acted. Music and sound-effects are tasteful. At times, it might be a little bit too quiet, say, for airplanes, but these moments are few and far between. Overal, I wanted an audible copy I could keep coming back to like the text, and that's precisely what they've delivered.