Showing titles in Arts & Entertainment

It was the splendor and the scandal of the age. In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II tore down the most sacred shrine in Europe, the millennium-old St. Peter's Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine over the apostle's grave, to build a better basilica.

Specimen Days is the bold latest novel from Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours. The novel contains three linked narratives that take place in the past, the present, and the future of New York City and span the ghost story, thriller, and science fiction genres. This wild, lush, dark page-turner is an exciting creative leap for a major writer.

From "the most exciting individual in American theater" ( Newsweek), here is Anna Deavere Smith's brass-tacks advice to aspiring artists of all stripes. In the manner of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, Deavere Smith mentors her young artist over a period of five years, sharing her hard-won wisdom about the challenges and rewards of the artistic life.

These red-hot standup performances from the Un-Cabaret feature stories about live sex acts. No kidding! Visit a live sex show with David Cross, a porn movie shoot with Greg Fitzsimmons, and go behind the scenes to see what life is like for a phone sex operator when that operator is Margaret Cho! Insightful and hilarious, these performances are also very, very dirty.

The TARDIS arrives on a vast spaceship in the distant future, and the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo meet the only survivors from the planet Earth. They are on a 700 year voyage to the planet Refusis II, in the company of their mute, one-eyed servants the Monoids. Dodo unwittingly spreads her cold amongst the Monoids, and it proves deadly to them. The Doctor provides a cure, and they leave, but the TARDIS jumps forward in time, taking its occupants to the Ark's future.

Based on his Perrier-nominated Edinburgh hit show of 2004, Chris Addison's Civilisation is a comedy lecture series for Radio 4. It neatly follows on from Chris' first Radio 4 series, The Ape that Got Lucky. Western civilisation, like many very old things, is pretty much on its last legs. And if western civilisation as we know it is dying sooner rather than later, we're going to have to build ourselves a new one. And how are we going to do that, then?

These inspired standup performances feature stories about being sort-of famous. Take an epic journey to the Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary Show and into the depths of Julia Sweeney's soul. Watch Dana Gould get his pilot tested. Plus great snapshots of near-fame from Bobcat Goldthwait, Beth Lapides, and a gem of a song from Andy Dick with music by Andras Jones (we think).

Sir John Betjeman, poet, broadcaster, journalist, prose writer and critic, was one of the best-loved figures of the 20th century. Betjeman was a prolific writer and his poems still resonate today. This release celebrates the centenary of Betjeman's birth.

Nick has been fantastically involved throughout the production of this download, so that it has become something far more than simply an author reading his work. For once, we can genuinely say this illustrated audiobook comes complete with bells and whistles, not to mention some Arctic winds, Venetian canals, telephones, aeroplanes, and a squealing pig or two!

Take a correspondence course in comedy with Julia Sweeney as she tries to deal with a spurned lover long-distance, and Beth Lapides and Sue Murphy get mail that really pushes the envelope.

This classic comedy is set in the charming country home of Charles Condomine, a remarried widower. A witty and convivial evening party among friends is transformed when a seance conjures the ghost of Elvira, Charles' first wife, who delights in wreaking havoc among the living. An enchanting Coward comedy!

Julia and Fred and Willy and Jane are happily married and the best of friends, until a postcard arrives with news of the imminent arrival of a certain handsome Frenchman. Gay, debonair, and utterly sophisticated.

Three terminally stylish friends, who share rivalrous affections, attempt to uncoil their twisted love triangle in this sexy and scandalous gem. Written in 1932, the play was deemed extremely daring, and even by today's standards is considered controversial. In its frank and funny take on sex, love, and commitment, Design for Living proves to be one of Coward's greatest successes.

World War II is over, and a family mourning a son missing in action plants a memorial tree and tries to go on with their lives. When a storm blows down the tree, a devastating family secret is uprooted, setting the characters on a terrifying journey towards truth.

Arthur Miller’s deeply moving drama reunites two long estranged middle-aged brothers. Nostalgia and recrimination erupt as they sell off an attic full of furniture, their last link to a family and a world that no longer exists. This 1968 classic is a wrenching saga of plaintive gestures and missed opportunities. A co-production with the BBC.

Set in 1938 Brooklyn, this gripping psychological mystery begins when attractive, level-headed Sylvia Gellburg suddenly loses her ability to walk. The only clue lies in Sylvia’s obsession with news accounts from Germany. Though safe in Brooklyn, Sylvia is terrified by Nazi violence—or is it something closer to home?

For more than six decades, she has been part of our lives. An American icon, Elizabeth Taylor has been surrounded by fame and notoriety since childhood. Now acclaimed biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli looks past the tabloid version of Elizabeth's life to the person she really is, and how she evolved from a child star to a woman in her own right.

These hilarious standup comedy performances from the Un-Cabaret are all about work. Stories of embezzlement, existential dread, and Hollywood horror are just some of the benefits of being on the job with these inspired comic storytellers.

Augustus Rodin was not only the greatest sculptor but also one of the most remarkable personalities of modern times. Frederic V. Grunfeld's exhaustive biography, the first in over fifty years, documents a lifetime of both artistic and personal struggle against poverty, against the conservative Salon, and against an art establishment that for years denied him recognition.

What would life be like if you believed that every crisis is a blessing, that you're guided to meet the people who cross your path, and that everything happens for a reason? Deepak Chopra examines this topic with John Demartini, an internationally acclaimed speaker whose motivational programs are sought out by individuals and Fortune 500 corporations alike.