Publisher: William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
Five short plays from acclaimed playwright Steve Waters, all of them deeply personal accounts of his attempts to make sense of twenty-first-century Britain and an ever-changing world. From the migrant crisis in Europe to climate change and the increasing urbanisation of our green spaces, Waters turns his sensitive, thoughtful eye to the complex and challenging issues that face us today, moving from the personal to the political, and from the local to the global. Out of Your Knowledge explores our changing attitudes towards the landscape as Waters retraces the journey of John Clare, the 19th-century English poet who escaped his lunatic asylum in Essex and walked for over 100 miles to reach his home village. Told by a woman killed in a cycling accident, Death of a Cyclist is a poignant, bleakly comic monologue that imagines the moments after death, and our struggle to come to terms with the biggest shock of all. Set against the low hum of the War on Terror, Why Can't We Live Together? is a kaleidoscopic vision of our times through the lives of one man and one woman. In a Vulnerable Place is a monologue documenting Waters' own journey from the Norfolk Broads to the steppes of Mongolia to explore, first hand, what is happening to the natural world and the human heart. Finally, The Play About Calais, based on Waters' own visit to the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais and the people he met along the way, is an attempt to make sense of one of the most complex and divisive issues of our times. Steve Waters is a leading UK playwright whose plays include Limehouse, Temple and World Music (all at the Donmar Warehouse), and The Contingency Play (Bush Theatre). He ran the MPhil in Playwriting at Birmingham University for several years, and now teaches Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. His book, The Secret Life of Plays, is published by Nick Hern Books.Show book
LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Pillow and Stone by Abram S. Isaacs. This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 24, 2011.Abram S. Isaacs (1851-1920) was an American rabbi, author, and professor. Isaacs received his education at the New York University, from which he was graduated in 1871. He became a Rabbi at Barnett Memorial Temple at Paterson, New Jersey. For thirty-five years he occupied a chair at the New York University, first as Professor of Hebrew, then of Germanic languages, and later of Semitics. (summary from Wikipedia)Show book
Jilted by the man she followed to Seoul, Katia has hit rock bottom. Within months, her whirlwind romance and marriage to Jihan has everyone talking. Jihan is the heir to the Kwan business empire while Katia is a foreigner, an Anglo-Indian who has no business ensnaring Seoul’s most eligible bachelor. Together in chic, metropolitan Seoul the two forge a relationship that is tested by intrigue, jilted lovers and a hidden nemesis. Can their newfound love survive the forces against them? Or will the vows they took be in vain? A sweet romance novella set in Korea for all the Hallyu lovers.Show book
Kate Mulgrew as Katharine Hepburn in TEA AT FIVE has won standing ovations at each performance. The independent, intelligent, feisty Hepburn comes alive when Mulgrew slips deftly into the voice and being of the famous actress. The two-act play opens in 1938 when the actress is 31 years old and in the middle of a career slump. She is awaiting a call to see if she has won the part of Scarlet in a film called GONE WITH THE WIND. The story moved to 1983 when Parkinson's disease has left her voice shaking, her hand clutching a cane, but her eyes still shining with intelligence and wit. TEA AT FIVE is an unforgettable trip down Broadway, Hollywood Blvd, and memory lane.Show book
David’s book is one of despair and hope; one that paints a picture of our society that is both dark and broken up by fleeting rays of light. From his plight on the streets in one of England’s richest regions, to the interactions of people he observes and encounters every day, to the impacts of Covid-19 and the changing seasons – this is poetry and prose at its most powerful. It is a book that reveals the double-talk of homeless service provision – a society that consigns people as worthless without knowing their backgrounds; which assumes that homelessness is a choice rather than a predicament. It is impossible not to have read this book and come away changed: to feel the biting need to make a difference and sense of injustice as to why so many individuals – people who could otherwise fulfil their potential, for the benefit of others as well as themselves – are thrown cruelly to the fringes.Show book
A light and whimsical collection of poems by the celebrated children's author E Nesbit, in collaboration with Saretta Nesbit. (Summary by David Barnes)Read by David Barnes, Lizzie Driver, Sarah McIntyre, Stuart Pyle, Cori Samuel, and Peter Yearsley.Show book
