Get a free audiobook download of The Tempest ($4.99 Kindle), by William Shakespeare, with David Warner as Prospero, as part of their Radio 3 Shakespeare series.Book Description
David Warner is Prospero, with Carl Prekopp as Ariel, Rose Leslie as Miranda and Don Warrington as Gonzalo in Shakespeare's play of magic, romance and revenge. With music by the Devil's Violin Company. Broadcast as part of the Shakespeare Unlocked season and the third in the series of Radio 3 Shakespeare dramas.
Generally agreed to be Shakespeare's last play, THE TEMPEST was most likely written in 1610. Twelve years before the action begins, Prospero--Duke of Milan--and his daughter, Miranda, were stranded by Prospero's brother, Antonio, on a remote and idyllic island where Miranda has grown up happily among the beasts and flowers, never seeing any man but her father. Many years later, Prospero uses his powers and the help of Ariel, the sprite, to effect a shipwreck--hence the play's title--that brings Antonio to the island, along with the king of Naples and his son, Ferdinand, who promptly falls in love with Miranda. Their love story, juxtaposed with Prospero's revenge on his brother and his final act of mercy, form the basis of a simple plot. A combination of tragedy and romantic comedy, the play includes a happy ending that, finally, leans toward the latter. Unlike Shakespeare's other plays, THE TEMPEST is full of magic and exoticism and what we now think of as special effects, using evocative music and extravagant imagery to create a mood of enchantment that, nonetheless, confronts serious questions about reality and illusion. Some interpretations of the play see Prospero--who, in his dazzling last speech, renounces his magic powers--as the aging Shakespeare bidding farewell to the theater. THE TEMPEST is also interesting because its events take place in a 24-hour period. And it is, of course, the source of a famous phrase: when the sheltered Miranda first lays eyes on Ferdinand, she exclaims, "Oh brave new world, that has such people in it!"
Get the free audiobook from the BBC. You can also listen online to their rendition of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet, thru Saturday (actually sometime Sunday, UK, time, but I wouldn't push it).
If you prefer to read (or read along), you can get a well-formatted (and free) copy of Shakespeare's Comedies, over on MobileRead, which includes two of the three titles in the series.
If you crave even more Shakespeare and history, then grab the podcasts for Shakespeare’s Restless World, a 20-part series that you can download direct or via iTunes, or get A History of the World in 100 Objects.
