Shakespeare: The Complete Works

Argo Classics

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Diana Rigg, Roy Dotrice, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, full cast

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.

For the first time, the complete works of Shakespeare are available to download as one. This collection includes all 37 plays, 4 narrative poems, and the sonnets.

Performed by an incredible array of the 20th century’s greatest actors, Ian McKellen, Timothy West, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi, Roy Dotrice, Prunella Scales, and many others can be heard in these recordings.

All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.

This collection brings together all of Shakespeare’s works, including:
• A Lover's Complaint
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• All's Well That Ends Well
• Antony And Cleopatra
• As You Like It
• Coriolanus
• Cymbeline
• Hamlet
• Henry IV, Pt. 1
• Henry IV, Pt. 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI, Pt. 1
• Henry VI, Pt. 2
• Henry VI, Pt. 3
• Henry VIII
• Julius Caesar
• King John
• King Lear
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Macbeth
• Measure For Measure
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Othello
• Pericles, Prince Of Tyre
• Richard II
• Richard III
• Romeo And Juliet
• Sonnets
• The Comedy Of Errors
• The Merchant Of Venice
• The Merry Wives Of Windsor
• The Phoenix and the Turtle
• The Rape Of Lucrece
• The Taming Of The Shrew
• The Tempest
• The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
• The Winter's Tale
• Timon Of Athens
• Titus Andronicus
• Troilus And Cressida
• Twelfth Night
• Venus And Adonis

Public Domain (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Technical Issues

Just started listening. These are remastered old recordings. The sound thus is full of echoes of the soundstage. Annoyingly, King John, Act V is missing. And this is the first play I listened to, so hoping the rest of the plays are complete. The actors are exceptional and I wish a pdf of each play's list of actors was included. Nice to listen along while reading the Riverside Shakespeare.

Thanks for help accomplishing a bucket list task.

The last two acts of Pericles are missing and the acts of Much Ado about Nothing are all mixed up.

A great idea for an audiobook

The file does not work well and constantly crashes. I even tried to download it to my device, but that didn’t make a difference.

The importance of having Shakespeare at hand

It’s sublime having continuous access to the greatest writer in the English language. There are other marvels in other languages but in English Shakespeare stands alone.

Can you recognize famous acting voices?

I found it most helpful to listen to a play while reading that play.

Very poor performances

Very dull, flat acting. There are much better productions. Look elsewhere. Of course, the writing is fantastic. Duh. Shakespeare.

Not recommended for trying to sleep :)

I know this review won't be helpful to most. I listen to audiobooks to go to sleep, but there are horns at the start of the chapters. It kept waking me up! lol

Proceed with caution

Missing about a third of Love’s Labors Lost, Much ado about Nothing starts in the middle, proceeds to the end and then starts at the beginning, which is a unique way to experience the story, and the trumpets in every single play drove me absolutely crazy. However, Hamlet, Macbeth and The Tempest were worth the price by themselves, and listening to the sonnets from start to finish definitely brought a new perspective to Shakespeare.

Not assembled well

The performances are wonderful, and follow the Cambridge edition without annoying edits in too many "popular" renderings.

The problem is technical - some missing scenes and improperly ordered Acts. I wish they could fix this. Later BBC collections on Audible are more addressed to audiences that want shorter fare and don't regret edits. This Collection could be priceless with just a little attention.

A Perfect Collection

I've read the Second Henriad (Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V), Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Othello. I'm using the Norton Shakespeare to accompany the full cast audios. After finishing each play, I enjoy the corresponding Great Courses lectures by Peter Saccio and Marc C Conner. I plan to read every Shakespeare play this year.

Favorite performances: Richard II, John of Gaunt, Henry IV, Henry V, Othello. The Richard II performance alone steals the show.

The plays are easily navigable. They are arranged alphabetically and bookmarked by act. I have no issues jumping from Richard II Act 3 to A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 1.