Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Inside Voices, a play by Nabilah Said, blends dark comedy and magic realism in its subversive portrayal of three Singaporean Muslim women challenging the bounds of freedom, feminism and faith in a place that isn't home. It was first performed as part of the 2019 VAULT Festival, London. Also available in the collection Plays from VAULT 4.
“Narayan makes this treasury of Indian folklore and mythology readily accessible to the general reader . . . he captures the spirit of the narrative.”—Library Journal The Mahabharata tells a story of such violence and tragedy that many people in India refuse to keep the full text in their homes, fearing that doing so would invite a disastrous fate upon their house. Covering everything from creation to destruction, this ancient poem remains an indelible part of Hindu culture and a landmark in ancient literature. Centuries of listeners and readers have been drawn to The Mahabharata, which began as disparate oral ballads and grew into a sprawling epic. The modern version is famously long, and at more than 1.8 million words—seven times the combined lengths of the Iliad and Odyssey—it can be incredibly daunting. But contemporary readers have a much more accessible entry point to this important work, thanks to R. K. Narayan’s masterful, elegant translation and abridgement of the poem. Now with a new foreword by Wendy Doniger, as well as a concise character and place guide and a family tree, The Mahabharata is ready for a new generation of readers. Narayan ably distills a tale that is both traditional and constantly changing. He draws from both scholarly analysis and creative interpretation and vividly fuses the spiritual with the secular. Through this balance he has produced a translation that is not only clear, but graceful, one that stands as its own story as much as an adaptation of a larger work.Show book
The tragic story of how Rudyard Kipling sent his son to his death in the First World War. The year is 1913 and war with Germany is imminent. Rudyard Kipling's determination to send his severely short-sighted son to war triggers a bitter family conflict which leaves Britain's renowned patriot devastated by the warring of his own greatest passions: his love for children - above all his own - and his devotion to King and Country. My Boy Jack premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in October 1997. It was adapted for television in 2007, with a cast of Kim Cattrall, Carey Mulligan, Daniel Radcliffe, and the author himself as Kipling. 'dramatises Kipling's story beautifully. The family confrontations bristle with life' Financial TimesShow book
Mansfield Park is Jane Austen's 1814 novel focusing on Fanny Price, the daughter of a poor Portsmouth family, who is taken to live with her aunt and uncle Bertram's family on their estate at the age of ten. Surrounded by her wealthy and privileged cousins, and continually reminded of her lower status by her bullying Aunt Norris, Fanny grows up timid and shy, but with a strong sense of ethics, partly instilled by her kindly cousin Edmund. Fanny's gratitude and friendship for Edmund gradually grow into love, but the introduction of Mary and Henry Crawford, a captivating sister and brother, into the neighborhood of Mansfield Park, confuses and complicates the affections of the Bertram household. In this recording, LibriVox volunteers lend their voices to the colorful cast of characters in Austen's classic novel. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)Cast:Narrator/Mary Crawford: Elizabeth KlettMrs. Norris: Beth ThomasLady Bertram: hazelraSir Thomas Bertram: Bruce PirieEdmund Bertram: mbFanny Price: Arielle LipshawJulia Bertram: Elizabeth BarrMaria Bertram: Tina DanhMrs. Grant: MalaneHenry Crawford: Peter BishopTom Bertram: Marty KrisMr. Rushworth: Algy PugDr. Grant: Ernst PattynamaCoachman/Baddeley/Mr. Price/Sam: Marty KrisMrs. Rushworth: PhilippaJohn Yates: Max KorlingeWilliam Price: Brett W. DowneyRebecca: Diana MajlingerMrs. Price: Janet248Susan Price: SusannaAudio edited by Elizabeth KlettShow book
The multi-award winning actor reads the finest work of Thomas HardyShow book
Robert Browning (1812-1889) playright and poet is known and admired for his dramatic monologues in blank verse of which he is a recognized master. He was not always popular in his own time but is now considered one of the foremost poets of Victorian England.This volume contains some of the best of the monologues including “Porphyria's Lover”, “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix”,”The Bishop orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church”, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came” and“My Last Duchess”, as well as “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” and shorter descriptive lyrical poems.Public Domain (P)2016 Spiders' House Audio/Roy MacreadyShow book
From the prize-winning poet: “A stunning volume . . . A master of the understatement, Matthews is wryly philosophical and self-deprecating.” —Booklist When William Matthews died, the day after his fifty-fifth birthday, America lost one of its most important poets, one whose humor and wit were balanced by deep emotion, whose off-the-cuff inventiveness belied the acuity of his verse. Drawing from his eleven collections and including twenty-three previously unpublished poems, Search Party is the essential compilation of this beloved poet's work. Edited by his son, Sebastian Matthews, and William Matthews's friend and fellow poet Stanley Plumly (who also introduces the book), Search Party is an excellent introduction to the poet and his glistening riffs on twentieth-century topics from basketball to food to jazz.Show book
