Shakespeare: The Complete Works

Argo Classics

De: William Shakespeare

Narrado por: 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.

Good, but some files are out of Order.

Some of the entries are out of order on the track list. the main one I noticed Was Much Ado About Nothing. The first Act is labeled Chapter 4.

An outstanding value

This is an outstanding value, as long as you're clear about what you're getting. These are not immersive radio play-style productions, like those from Arkangel or the BBC. They are essentially script-in-hand readings of the plays, without much in the way of music or sound effects. But they are very well acted, they are complete, and they make an excellent accompaniment to a reading of the plays. Where else could you possibly get professional-grade performances of every word Shakespeare wrote, for such a small investment? Argo is to be commended for rescuing these recordings from the archives and making them so widely available.

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.