-
Shakespeare's Original Pronunciation
- Speeches and Scenes Performed as Shakespeare Would Have Heard Them
- Narrated by: Ben Crystal, Philip Bird, Rebecca Pownell, Natalie Thomas, Benjamin O'Mahony, Matthew Mellalieu, Colin Hurley
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $7.74
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
You Say Potato: A Book About Accents
- By: Ben Crystal, David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Jane Savage, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some people say 'sconn' while others say 'schown'. He says 'bath' while she says 'bahth'. You say 'potayto'. I say 'potahto'. And - wait a second, no one says 'potahto'. No one's ever said 'potahto'. Have they? From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of received pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father, David, travel the world in search of the stories of spoken English.
-
-
Wish there were more native recordings.
- By Matt Dobler on 07-01-16
By: Ben Crystal, and others
-
Much Ado about Nothing
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Saskia Reeves, Samuel West, Paul Jesson, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Claudio has fallen for the lovely heiress Hero, who also loves him. Their path to the altar looks smooth, until the evil Don John intervenes. All ends happily, thanks to his incompetent assassins and the lucky discoveries of the bungling constable Dogberry. Central to the play, one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, are Beatrice and Benedick, masters of wit and sworn foes to marriage - until a plot is hatched to bring them together.
-
-
Live in thy heart, die in thy lap
- By Darwin8u on 06-29-17
-
The Tempest
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Sir Ian McKellen, Emilia Fox, Scott Handy, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play. The wronged duke raises a tempest to shipwreck his old opponents on his island so that he can ensure justice is done. With Emilia Fox as Miranda, Scott Handy in the pivotal role of the sprite Ariel, and Ben Owukwe as Caliban.
-
-
A stellar performance by a stunning cast
- By J.R. Snyder on 02-18-14
-
Hamlet: The Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Imogen Stubbs, Jane Lapotaire, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Distressed by his father's death and his mother's over-hasty remarriage, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is faced by a specter from beyond the grave bearing a grim message of murder and revenge. The young prince is driven to the edge of madness by his struggle to understand the situation he finds himself in and to do his duty. Many others, including Hamlet's beloved, the innocent Ophelia, are swept up in his tragedy.
-
-
Excellent Presentation
- By L. Jay on 11-22-16
-
Great Speeches and Soliloquies
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Estelle Kohler
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many of Shakespeare's greatest and best-loved speeches are brought together in this superb collection, performed by outstanding artists who bring to vivid life words which are an integral part of our language, our culture and our everyday lives.
-
-
Outstanding performances
- By Timoteo on 01-09-18
-
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love in unexpected ways. In the woods outside Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves into couples - but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another. The king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy. Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, in an effort to distract Titania from the custody battle.
-
-
wow
- By Giovanni Panaro on 02-15-19
-
You Say Potato: A Book About Accents
- By: Ben Crystal, David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Jane Savage, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some people say 'sconn' while others say 'schown'. He says 'bath' while she says 'bahth'. You say 'potayto'. I say 'potahto'. And - wait a second, no one says 'potahto'. No one's ever said 'potahto'. Have they? From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of received pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father, David, travel the world in search of the stories of spoken English.
-
-
Wish there were more native recordings.
- By Matt Dobler on 07-01-16
By: Ben Crystal, and others
-
Much Ado about Nothing
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Saskia Reeves, Samuel West, Paul Jesson, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Claudio has fallen for the lovely heiress Hero, who also loves him. Their path to the altar looks smooth, until the evil Don John intervenes. All ends happily, thanks to his incompetent assassins and the lucky discoveries of the bungling constable Dogberry. Central to the play, one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, are Beatrice and Benedick, masters of wit and sworn foes to marriage - until a plot is hatched to bring them together.
-
-
Live in thy heart, die in thy lap
- By Darwin8u on 06-29-17
-
The Tempest
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Sir Ian McKellen, Emilia Fox, Scott Handy, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play. The wronged duke raises a tempest to shipwreck his old opponents on his island so that he can ensure justice is done. With Emilia Fox as Miranda, Scott Handy in the pivotal role of the sprite Ariel, and Ben Owukwe as Caliban.
-
-
A stellar performance by a stunning cast
- By J.R. Snyder on 02-18-14
-
Hamlet: The Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Imogen Stubbs, Jane Lapotaire, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Distressed by his father's death and his mother's over-hasty remarriage, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is faced by a specter from beyond the grave bearing a grim message of murder and revenge. The young prince is driven to the edge of madness by his struggle to understand the situation he finds himself in and to do his duty. Many others, including Hamlet's beloved, the innocent Ophelia, are swept up in his tragedy.
-
-
Excellent Presentation
- By L. Jay on 11-22-16
-
Great Speeches and Soliloquies
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Estelle Kohler
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many of Shakespeare's greatest and best-loved speeches are brought together in this superb collection, performed by outstanding artists who bring to vivid life words which are an integral part of our language, our culture and our everyday lives.
-
-
Outstanding performances
- By Timoteo on 01-09-18
-
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love in unexpected ways. In the woods outside Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves into couples - but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another. The king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy. Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, in an effort to distract Titania from the custody battle.
-
-
wow
- By Giovanni Panaro on 02-15-19
-
Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, is among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language. Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king in order to succeed to the throne. Tortured by his conscience and fearful of discovery, he becomes fatally enmeshed in a web of treachery and deceit.
-
-
excellent
- By Laura W. on 05-25-18
-
The Rape of Lucrece
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: David Ian Davies
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Ian Davies performs this unique and exciting reading of William Shakespeare's erotic poem, The Rape of Lucrece - not available on cassette or CD!
-
The Merchant of Venice
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Trevor Peacock, Bill Nighy, Haydn Gwynne, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shakespeare's most controversial play, the opposing values of justice and mercy must be resolved. Antonio promises money to help his friend Bassanio woo Portia. He borrows the sum needed from the cruel Shylock, but there will be a dreadful penalty if the loan is not repaid. The golden world of Portia's Belmont calls forth some of Shakespeare's most lyrical love poetry. But the dark shadow of Shylock is never far from the heart of this brilliant comedy as it moves toward its courtroom climax.
-
-
One Of Shakespeare's Best
- By M. J. Christensen on 06-07-15
-
Much Ado About Nothing
- Much Ado About Nothing (Dramatized)
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: David Tennant, Samantha Spiro, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shakespeare's comedy of wit, love and miscommunication, Beatrice and Benedick and Hero and Claudio are pushed into and pulled out of love, their friends playing cupid with life-changing consequences. David Tennant and Samantha Spiro star as the famous sparring partners Benedick and Beatrice, with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Emilia Fox as Claudio and Hero. The supporting cast includes Maxine Peake and Julian Rhind-Tutt
-
-
Come...bid me do anything for thee.
- By Irene Adler on 08-01-14
-
Murder Your Darlings
- And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser
- By: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With so many excellent writing guides lining bookstore shelves, it can be hard to know where to look for the best advice. Should you go with Natalie Goldberg or Anne Lamott? Maybe William Zinsser or Stephen King would be more appropriate. Then again, what about the classics - Strunk and White, or even Aristotle himself? In Murder Your Darlings, Roy Peter Clark, who has been a beloved and revered writing teacher to children and Pulitzer Prize winners alike for more than 30 years, has compiled a remarkable collection of more than 100 of the best writing tips.
-
-
Surprisingly engaging
- By Sil A. on 08-05-21
By: Roy Peter Clark
-
The Last Seance
- Tales of the Supernatural
- By: Agatha Christie
- Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling stories from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Fantastic psychic visions, specters looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, a man who switches bodies with a cat - be sure to keep the light on whilst listening to these tales. The Last Séance gathers 20 stories, some featuring Christie’s beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, in one haunting compendium that explores all things occult and paranormal, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.
-
-
Not bad
- By Kindle Customer on 02-18-20
By: Agatha Christie
-
BBC Radio Shakespeare: A Collection of Eight Comedies
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Anne-Marie Duff, David Tennant, Full Cast, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of BBC Radio 3's iconic Shakespeare productions: eight comedies with all-star casts including David Tennant, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Martin Jarvis, Siân Phillips and Miriam Margolyes. The plays included in this collection are: Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, and All's Well That Ends Well.
-
-
The narrators are outstanding here
- By Jennifer Baratta She/Her on 02-09-21
-
All the Sonnets of Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare, Paul Edmondson - editor, Stanley Wells - editor
- Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh, Lolita Chakrabarti
- Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How can we look afresh at Shakespeare as a writer of sonnets? What new light might they shed on his career, personality, and sexuality? Shakespeare wrote sonnets for at least 30 years, not only for himself, for professional reasons, and for those he loved, but also in his plays, as prologues, as epilogues, and as part of their poetic texture.
By: William Shakespeare, and others
-
Antony and Cleopatra
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Estelle Kohler, Ciaran Hinds, Ian Hughes, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world, has become the thrall of the fascinating Cleopatra. Affairs of state call him to Rome, but the attractions of the queen of Egypt prove impossible to resist. From one of history's greatest love stories Shakespeare builds this magnificent tragedy of the clash between love and duty.
-
-
Immortal Longings
- By Darwin8u on 11-26-17
-
How to Read and Understand Shakespeare
- By: Marc C. Conner, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Marc C. Conner
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shakespeare's works are among the greatest of humanity's cultural expressions and, as such, demand to be experienced and understood. But, simply put, Shakespeare is difficult. His language and culture - those of Elizabethan England - are greatly different from our own, and his poetry, thick with metaphorical imagery and double meanings, can be hard to penetrate.
-
-
To Listen or Not to Listen…
- By Ark1836 on 10-13-15
By: Marc C. Conner, and others
-
Tyndale's Bible: Saint Matthew's Gospel
- Read in the Original Pronunciation by David Crystal
- By: William Tyndale
- Narrated by: David Crystal
- Length: 2 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What was so special about the Tyndale Bible? How does it sound to us today? The first text of the Bible to be printed in English was the New Testament of William Tyndale, published in 1525-6. Its repercussions lasted for almost a century, stimulated by the religious intolerances of the age, and Tyndale's influence can be seen in most of the Bible translations over the next 100 years, not least in the language of the King James Bible of 1611 - as this recording of Saint Matthew’s Gospel in the pronunciation of Tyndale’s own time makes vividly clear.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Aaron & Corrie Moran on 05-26-20
By: William Tyndale
-
How to Be a Tudor
- A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to 16th-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era.
-
-
I almost wish Ruth had narrated
- By lisa on 08-29-18
By: Ruth Goodman
Publisher's Summary
How did Shakespeare sound to the audiences of his day? For the first time, this audio offers listeners the chance to hear England's greatest playwright performed by a company of actors using the pronunciation of his time.
Under the guidance of Ben Crystal, actor, author of Shakespeare on Toast, and an expert in original Shakespearian pronunciation, the company performs some of Shakespeare's best-known poems, solo speeches, and scenes from the plays. Hear new meanings uncovered, new jokes revealed, poetic effects enhanced. An essential purchase for every student and lover of Shakespeare.
More from the same
What listeners say about Shakespeare's Original Pronunciation
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M-Squad
- 03-25-18
I want more of this!
I've spent many hours reading material printed around 1600 and those works have come to mean a lot to me. The spellings make more sense now.
I would LOVE to have more of this. Whole plays, all the sonnets. Hell, there was a ton of literature printed at the time. They could read recipe books or a treatise on farming and I'd listen to the whole thing.
I hope to eventually hear OP in my head when I read Elizabethan and early Jacobean literature.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lizatish
- 08-12-14
Shakespeare Done Right
If you could sum up Shakespeare's Original Pronunciation in three words, what would they be?
Enjoyable, Well Done
What about the narrators’s performance did you like?
The various narrators did a good job of acting as they recited the lines. You can almost picture them on stage.
Any additional comments?
Even if you are not interested in the original pronunciation, these are particularly well done and enjoyable to listen to.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Nic
- 04-04-13
A Great Listen
I love this. I had the pleasure of being taught by Ben Crystal's Dad at university so perhaps I have a bit more insight into OP than some but this should not exclude anybody! The extracts are well selected and beautifully read. A must-listen for anyone studying Shakespeare, the linguistics of OP or who just likes a bit of the Bard at Bedtime!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dublin Buyer
- 07-02-21
Some of the finest readings on Audible.
The actors do a wonderful job of bringing these works to life. I finished this with a huge appetite for more. The scene of Hamlet confronting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern was wonderful.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- bhavna
- 02-29-12
Good book
This is really a good book and i recommend this book to everyone and good to listen to it .