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Witch of Edmonton

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 2

Mother Elizabeth Sawyer is a poor, lonely, and unfairly ostracized old woman with nothing left to lose. Frank is a poor farmer who intends to marry his beloved Winnifred, who is pregnant with his child, but is pressured to marry Susan, the rich yeoman’s daughter. Young Cuddy Banks is a clown who pines after a girl who doesn’t love him. When Mother Sawyer turns to witchcraft after being unjustly accused of it, a talking devil-dog named Tom (performed by a human actor) comes to her aid, becoming her familiar and only friend. Though she intends to get her revenge, little does she know many of those around her are only too willing to sell their souls to the devil all by themselves. The play was inspired by the real-life story of Elizabeth Sawyer, who had been executed for witchcraft on 19 April 1621, and draws heavily on a pamphlet by Henry Goodcole, The wonderful discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer, Witch (1621). While the pamphlet may be very ready to capitalize on the sensational story of a witch and portray Sawyer as simply a bad woman, the play does not permit an easy and comfortable demonization of her. It presents her as a product of society rather than an anomaly in it. – Summary by Mary Kay Cast Narrator: LydiaCW Mother Elizabeth Sawyer: Elizabby Anne: [Newgatenovelist](https://librivox.org/reader/ 9872) Susan: Kitty Katherine: Kristingj Winnifred: gloriana Sir Arthur Clarington: Hamlet Old Thorney / Hamluc: unreadpages Carter: ToddHW Warbeck: jburlinson Somerton: Salvationist Frank Thorney: Dave in […]

Tragedy of King Richard II (version 2)

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Tragedy
Chapter: 6 | Listen: 3

Billed by scholars as the first part of the all-encompassing Henriad, Richard II is a richly satisfying probe into the inner workings of monarchical rule and its evolution from being seen as divinely held to a more modern conception that incorporates political cunning. Shakespeare positions the titular Richard in the former position, his shortcomings as England’s leader made all too clear when he bungles the handling of a judicial duel, and then later seizes money and assets that are not rightfully his in order to fund an Irish war. At the opposite end is the Machiavellian opportunist Henry Bolingbroke, who assembles enough supporters to help him dethrone the king and become the future Henry IV—the protagonist of the next two plays in this historical series. Written entirely in verse and containing some of the Bard’s most florid and evocative language, Richard II never fails to transport its audience back to its time, where the furious machinations of government and kingly rule could be as captivating and intense as any battlefield siege. And to perform it all? Three men (Craig Franklin, Tomas Peter, and Brad “Hamlet” Filippone) and one woman (Sonia), determined to give you a performance of Shakespeare’s work that you will never forget. You thought you knew your Shakespeare? Well, think again! – Summary by Tomas Peter Brad “Hamlet” Filippone: Narrator; Henry Bolingbroke; Earl of Salisbury; Bushy; Abbot of Westminster; York’s Servant; Exton’s Servant; Gardener’s Servant; Another Lord. Sonia: Richard II; Richard’s Queen; Duchess of York; Duchess of Gloucester; […]

Hedda Gabler (version 2)

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen:

Hedda Gabler has just returned from her honeymoon. She has married out of ennui, and is already heartily sick of her husband, who is a plodding, pedantic academic. Upon moving into her new Christiania home, she soon discovers that Thea Elvsted, an old schoolmate whom she always envied and despised, has boldly left her marriage in order to be with Eilert Lövborg, a former lover of Hedda who is trying to overcome a past life of debauchery and alcoholism by creating a revolutionary new work of philosophy and returning to respectability. Another old flame, Judge Brack, tries to wheedle his way back into Hedda’s life by any means possible. Yearning to exercise power over someone, anyone, to “mould a human destiny,” Hedda begins callously to manipulate the people around her to devastating effect. Written at the height of Ibsen’s mature period, this play has endured as one of the most-performed and most powerful of all Ibsen’s works. Hedda is both perpetrator and victim, a psychologically-complex, frustrated woman trying to assert some control over her world. ( Expatriate) [chương_files]

Orra

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 1

Considered by her contemporaries a playwright “second only to Shakespeare,” Joanna Baillie was one of the most critically acclaimed writers of the Romantic Era. The Plays on the Passions, first published in 1798, stands as her undeniable magnum opus: a multivolume series of tragedies and comedies exploring the overruling passions of the mind. Orra: A Tragedy in Five Acts, which comes from that series’ third volume, is Joanna Baillie’s haunting meditation on fear and madness. It is gothic melodrama par excellence. Set in fourteenth century Switzerland, Baillie’s play skillfully intertwines psychological horror with early feminist thought. Orra, in love with Theobald, is exiled to a haunted castle in the Black Forest after rejecting a marriage proposal from her ward’s son. She is further threatened by the nefarious machinations of Rudigere, a pathologically jealous knight whose desire for Orra verges on obsession. Then there’s the castle itself, a dark and gothic abode that soon brings Orra to the brink of abject terror. Will Orra survive her expulsion into the Black Forest—or will she descend further and further into madness? ( ChuckW) Cast list: Orra: Availle Theobald: ToddHW Rudigere: Tomas Peter Glottenbal: Craig Franklin Hughobert: Roger Melin Hartman: DrPGould Maurice: Larry Wilson Eleonora: Eva Davis Cathrina: Sonia Franko: Nemo Urston: RecordingPerson Alice: Leanne Yau 1st Servant: Sandra Schmit 2nd Servant: TJ Burns 1st Outlaw: Owen Cook 2nd Outlaw / Soldier: David Olson Vassal: Joseph Tabler Attendant: Victor Villarraza Stage Directions: Chuck Williamson Editor: Chuck Williamson [chương_files]

Marion de Lorme

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 2

Marion de Lorme is a play about a famous French courtesan with the same name, known for her relationships with the important men of her time. (Kristingj) Cast list: Marion de Lorme: Kristin Gjerløw Didier: KHand Louis XIII: Ted Delorme Marquis de Nangis: ToddHW Marquis de Saverny: Beth Thomas L’Angely: John Burlinson M. de Laffemas: davidpr Duke de Bellegarde: AnttiV Marquis de Brichanteau: Joseph Tabler Count de Gassé: Peter Tucker Viscount de Bouchavannes: Jennifer Fournier Chevalier de Rochebaron: ToddHW Count de Villac: alanmapstone Chevalier de Montpesat: Owen Cook Duke de Beaupréau: alanmapstone Viscount de Rohan: DrPGould Abbé de Gondi: MaryAnn Count de Charnacé: David Purdy Scaramouche: Leanne Yau Gracieux: Jennifer Fournier Taillebras: AnttiV Councilor: Jennifer Fournier A Lackey: Lydia A voice: Jessie Yun An usher: Anna Simon Captain of the district: David Purdy Dame Rose: Melanie T First Workman: Melanie T Second Workman: ToddHW Third Workman: AnttiV Guard 1: MaryAnn Guard 2: ToddHW Guard 3: David Purdy Halberdier: Jennifer Fournier Musketeer: Leanne Yau Registrar: Leanne Yau The Jailor: Lydia The Turnkey: Anna Simon Town Crier: Leanne Yau Narrator: Michele Eaton Editing: linny. [chương_files]

Bacchae (Solo Version)

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Tragedy
Chapter: 3 | Listen: 3

Euripides’ Bacchae tells of Dionysus, the God, come to the city of Thebes, there to drive mad those who refuse participation in his ecstatic rites, sing and dance on the mountainside and worship him as God. A family tale as well as a sacrificial rite, in it Dionysus drives his own aunts mad and lures his cousin, Pentheus, cross-dressed as a woman, to a humiliating death at his own mother’s hands. An extraordinarily beautiful, utterly terrifying tale. (Summary by Tony Addison) [chương_files]

Seven Against Thebes (Way Translation)

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Tragedy
Chapter: 2 | Listen:

Seven against Thebes is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the Oedipodea. It concerns the battle between an Argive army led by Polynices and the army of Thebes led by Eteocles and his supporters. The trilogy won the first prize at the City Dionysia. The trilogy’s first two plays, Laius and Oedipus, as well as the satyr play Sphinx, are no longer extant. When Oedipus, King of Thebes, realized he had married his own mother and had two sons and two daughters with her, he blinded himself and cursed his sons to divide their inheritance (the kingdom) by the sword. The two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, in order to avoid bloodshed, agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years. After the first year, Eteocles refused to step down, leading Polynices to raise an army of Argives (captained by the eponymous Seven) to take Thebes by force….The bulk of the play consists of rich dialogues between the citizens of Thebes and their king Eteocles regarding the threat of the hostile army before their gates. – Summary by Wikipedia [chương_files]

All for Love; or, The World Well Lost

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 1

All for Love is widely considered to be John Dryden’s finest work, dramatic or otherwise. A tragedy written in blank verse, it retells the story of Roman general Marc Antony’s love affair with the alluring Egyptian queen Cleopatra and their eventual double-suicide. Compared to the more famous rendition of the tale by William Shakespeare, however, which is grand and hectic in terms of setting, Dryden chooses instead to focus in on the lovers’ last days in Alexandria as the threat of their defeat looms and their legacies are contested. The result is a swelling, elegant, emotional drama that perceptively considers such themes as loyalty and love, fidelity in marriage, the lasting endurance of friendship, and even the tenuous construct of masculinity. In short, it’s truly a gem of the Restoration repertoire. – Summary by Tomas Peter Cast List: Mark Antony: Tomas Peter Ventidius: Peter Tucker Dolabella: Phil Schempf Alexas: Dafni Ma Serapion: Alan Mapstone Myris: Chuck Williamson Gentleman 1: Mike Harris Gentleman 2: ToddHW Cleopatra: Beth Thomas Octavia: Sonia Charmion: Leanne Yau Iras: KHand Agrippina: Zoe Trang Antonia: Jenna Eleni Narrator: Rob Board Editor: ToddHW [chương_files]

Broken Heart

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen:

The Broken Heart stands next to ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore as Ford’s most popular drama. All is not right in Sparta because of, as is typical in this era of tragedies, the issue of marriage. In brief, Penthea wishes to marry Orgilus, but her brother Ithocles gets involved and bans them from doing so. He forces her to marry Bassanes, an abusive brute who happens to be wealthier than Orgilus. Ithocles then realises what he’s done wrong and tries to get his friend Prophilus to marry Orgilus’s sister Euphrania. Ithocles himself wants to marry the princess of Sparta, Calantha, who chooses him over her current betrothed, her cousin Nearchus. Thus begins a shocking cycle of revenge and recrimination… with predictably grisly consequences. (Charlotte Duckett & ChuckW) Cast list: Amyclas, King of Laconis: davidpr Ithocles, a Favourite: Stuart Partin Orgilus, Son of Crotolon: Tomas Peter Bassanes, a jealous Nobleman: Hamlet Armostes, a Counsellor of the State: Mike Harris Crotolon, another Counsellor: Khaghbboommm Prophilus, Friend of Ithocles: LindaB Nearchus, Prince of Argos: alanmapstone Tecnicus, a Philosopher: tovarisch Hemophil, a Courtier: Anna Simon Amelus, friend to Nearchus: ToddHW Phulas, Servant to Bassanes: David Purdy Calantha, Daughter of Amyclas: Sonia Penthea, Sister of Ithocles and Wife of Bassanes: Charlotte Duckett Euphranea, Daughter of Crotolon, a Maid of honour: KHand Christalla, a Maid of honour: sawasawaya Grausis, Overseer of Penthea: Availle Groneas, a Courtier: K. Adrian Stroet First Servant: Availle Philema, a Maid of honour: Leanne Yau Stage Directions: Chuck Williamson Editor: Chuck Williamson […]

Wild Duck

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Tragedy
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 5

The Wild Duck (1884) (original Norwegian title: Vildanden) is by many considered Ibsen’s finest work, and it is certainly the most complex. It tells the story of Gregers Werle, a young man who returns to his hometown after an extended exile and is reunited with his boyhood friend Hjalmar Ekdal. Over the course of the play, the many secrets that lie behind the Ekdals’ apparently happy home are revealed to Gregers, who insists on pursuing the absolute truth, or the “Summons of the Ideal”. Among these truths: Gregers’ father impregnated his servant Gina, then married her off to Hjalmar to legitimize the child. Another man has been disgraced and imprisoned for a crime the elder Werle committed. Furthermore, while Hjalmar spends his days working on a wholly imaginary “invention”, his wife is earning the household income. Ibsen displays masterful use of irony: despite his dogmatic insistence on truth, Gregers never says what he thinks but only insinuates, and is never understood until the play reaches its climax. Gregers hammers away at Hjalmar through innuendo and coded phrases until he realizes the truth; Gina’s daughter, Hedvig, is not his child. Blinded by Gregers’ insistence on absolute truth, he disavows the child. Seeing the damage he has wrought, Gregers determines to repair things, and suggests to Hedvig that she sacrifice the wild duck, her wounded pet, to prove her love for Hjalmar. Hedvig, alone among the characters, recognizes that Gregers always speaks in code, and looking for the deeper meaning in the […]