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    Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
    Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
    Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
    Audiobook2 hours

    Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition

    Written by William Shakespeare

    Narrated by Full Cast Dramatization

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY
    The World’s Leading Center for Shakespeare Studies

    The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, brings Macbeth to life with this new full-length, full-cast dramatic recording of its definitive Folger Edition.

    Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, is among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language. Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king in order to succeed to the throne. Tortured by his conscience and fearful of discovery, he becomes fatally enmeshed in a web of treachery and deceit.

    This new full-cast recording—based on the most respected edition of Shakespeare’s classic—expertly produced by the Folger Theatre, is perfect for students, teachers, and the everyday listener.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateAug 5, 2014
    ISBN9781442374294
    Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist in the English language. Shakespeare is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon.”  

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    Reviews for Macbeth

    4/5

    5,998 ratings88 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Very good performances and soundscape which bring the play to life. The play is presented with great clarity, there are no sloppy bits.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This audiobook of Macbeth is simply fantastic. The sound design is sublime and the acting is wondrous. Do your self a favour and listen to this audiobook of Macbeth right now.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Absolutely excellent. Each actor delivered a great performance and helped make this understandable even to someone who is not familiar with Shakespeare. I also enjoyed the sound effects. Overall would recommend this to anyone looking to understand Macbeth. I used this as a “read-along” and it really helped my comprehension.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      "Life's but a a walking shadow, a poor player
      That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
      And then is heard no more: it is a tale
      Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
      Signifying nothing."

      Macbeth follows the tale of Macbeth and his fellow soldier, Banquo who run into three witches on their way home from battle. The witches reveal a mysterious prophecy to him and from that point, Macbeth's life and that of his countrymen begins to unravel.
      You might think that the real villains of this book would be the witches who prophesied and whose words lead to destruction of families and homes, but in my opinion, the real villain is greed. Once Macbeth finds out he is basically unchallengeable, it corrupts his and his wife's morals- and their greed results in mass murders and loss of life.
      I'm really glad I am giving Shakespeare a chance. His works are iconic and I'm happy I get to experience his genius, even if it's centuries later.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent work by the artistes! I forgot that I was only listening and not watching! They made the characters come alive!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is a fabulous retelling of this drama! The author does a fantastic job including all major plot points in clear and descriptive narration. I particularly love the conversation between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as they plan the murder - the plan is never actually stated, so readers must use inference. Beautiful integration of famous lines from the play. The time sequence is also clearer in this version than the play - readers understand Macbeth's reign over several months and understand what Malcolm is doing in England before he returns to Scotland.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Fine, African series are missing out here, do include them

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Witty, dark and murderous. A little hard to understand some of the middle parts, but overall enjoyable. I like the full cast for plays and audiobooks and this one was well done.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Simply amazing! The audio was clear and the atmosphere was impressive.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is a wonderful retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This version mixes clear language of the present day with actual quotes from the play itself, allowing readers who may not be accustomed to the language of Shakespeare the chance to develop their understanding of it. I love the drawings in this book--they reinforce the dark eeriness that is a major theme of the tale itself. This book could really help students get a feel for the play. I think that the pictures, especially, might spark the interest of a young reader, especially one who enjoys scary stories. Great book!
    • 5/5
      Great classic, very dramatic performance. Engaging to listen to!
    • 5/5
      Macbeth has become a curse in the theater community. If you say his name three times in a row, your performance is doomed. Knowing this, I wanted to find out what Macbeth was all about. Coville's adaptation of the Shakespearan tale helped me discover this. Macbeth fights with himself over heroism and evil. The witches add a fantasy element. I think this book can be enjoyed by any student grades seven and up!
    • 4/5
      After reading Bruce Coville's and Dennis Nolan's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Ann Beneduce and Gennady Spirin's The Tempest, the shift to the more dire tonality of Coville and Gary Kelley's Macbeth was quite jarring. The illustrations of those two books were so fantastic, in both quality and content, that the strikingly serious panels here were difficult to get used to. Ultimately, though, the shift proved the right decision, in my opinion. Macbeth deserves a more grim disposition than most of Shakespeare's works and Coville, as he did with others, recognized the shift and changed pace capably.The language used here is similar to Coville's other Shakespeare adaptations. He masterfully simplifies the goings-on of the story, while not babying the reader, an important negotiation while writing an adaptation of this nature.
    • 3/5
      The best thing about Macbeth is that it would eventually lead to Kurosawa's adaption: Throne of Blood.

      So much better than Bill's version.
    • 5/5
      The great Scottish play. A few things for non-Scottish readers: - Thanes are similar to lords, a lot of the locations still exist as do regions of Scotland. The real Macbeth was totally different from Will Shakespeare version. And yes Alistair Maclean probably did use the line 'The Way to Dusty Death' as a book title.
    • 5/5
      This Barnes & Noble edition is really helpful. Great notes and textual explanations. Highly recommend it if you're new (or rusty) to reading Shakespeare. Only $7.95.
    • 5/5
      Well, seldom has an author taken a few lines out of Hollingshead, and a bare mention in The Anglo Saxon Chronicle and spun a classic play from them. This play is one of the core Shakespeare Great Plays. Read it, then read it again, see it on stage, on film, read it aloud with a group of friends, just live with it for the rest of your life. You'll feel better for doing so.
    • 3/5
      So...MacBeth.

      Weird that I knew so very little about this particular play, considering it's one of those ones that comes up a lot.

      And while it's suitably tragic, this one—and perhaps it was the players in this rendition, I don't know—this one didn't grab me. Lady MacBeth deserved to die, she was a foul, foul woman. But for me, I think it was the fact that this MacBeth guy, a major war hero, is so easily and stupidly thrown into this tragic self-fulfilling prophecy, and how he's easily and stupidly led into murder by his foul wife, and then he's stupid at the end.

      Very tragic, and yet again, I'm struck by how many phrases are still heard today by a four hundred year old play ("Lay on MacDuff" and the whole "boil and bubble, toil and trouble" witches' chant stand out). But overall, not one of my favourites.
    • 4/5
      Classic that has influenced so many stories. Definite must read.
    • 3/5
      This was the first one I read. I was astounded by the beauty of his language.
    • 5/5
      The moral to the story. "Lie with Dogs and you will wake up with fleas"
    • 5/5
      RSC production at the Barbican theatre, with Christopher Ecclestone as Macbeth. Possibly the best staging of the play I've seen with a superb central performance, bringing layers to the role that I hadn't noticed before.
    • 3/5
      LATW audio production of the Scottish play. All of the cast are adequate but none of actors really stand out (sadly not even James Marsters) - although my opinion may have been coloured by almost the entire cast using American accents. The sound effects used for scenes with the witches are excellent and add just the right tone of weirdness that these scenes require. Not a bad version of the play but not one I'd recommend as a way to experience the narrative for the first time.
    • 5/5
      This full cast production of Macbeth was excellent. Joanne Whalley was particularly good as Lady Macbeth.
    • 4/5
      I have no spur
      To prick the sides of my intent, but only
      Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
      And falls on the other.

      Last winter I heard a report on NPR about Stalin's dacha in Sochi. Such featured some curious design features including a bulletproof sofa with extended headrests that prevented his head being exposed from behind to an assassin. The curtains were also shorter in length from the top to prevent someone from hiding from behind them. As I drove I mused as to what sort of world-view would emerge from someone's sense of self and safety?

      The Bard's tale chooses not to address the policy of Macbeth but rather allows him only time to address his version of destiny in such a spirited supernatural environment. Macbeth is a rushed affair. It lacks the splendid pacing of Hamlet. Apparently Fortune favors the breathless as the narrative steps are sprinted and obstacles leaped like some wonky Wuxia. Despite all the gore, there isn't a great deal of introspection or even calculation. Such is strange but not so much as some things one finds on the Heath.(postscript: I just watched the Patrick Stewart led PBS film version: it was simply an avalanche.)
    • 4/5
      I found the audio version by L. A. Theatre Works entertaining. I would prefer to watch the play, but that's difficult to do when driving on the highway. This audio version kept me entertained. I've seen other versions of the play and prefer other voices for some of the roles, but once I had the characters sorted, I was able to follow along with this classic work which is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. (5 stars for the play; 3.5 for the performance)
    • 5/5
      I can't believe I hadn't read this sooner and hope to see a production of it one of these days. I must say I have a soft spot in my heart for the three weird sisters.
    • 5/5
      I got in a massive reading slump as I was into the 3rd act of this wonderful and short tragedy, so it took me a bit more to finish the book. The last 2 acts are packed with action and emotions and the characters are iconic to say the least: Lady Macbeth, the epitome of the power-hungry, manipulative and seemingly emotionless woman, she's the victim of her own humanity, her husband Macbeth whose mortal enemies are his doubtfulness and his mania for control, proof that misunderstanding or underestimating something can be truly fatal. Macduff and his pain are masterfully crafted and we can appreciate his weakness when he's with Malcolm and doesn't hide his feelings of despair and his strength when he faces Macbeth, the cause of his grief. It wasn't the easiest or quickest read I have done, but most definitely worth it. The intro by Cedric Watts is a nice addition as well.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorites! Macbeth's corruption, Lady Macbeth's savage ambition, the deliciously spooky menace of the witches... It's just such fun! And perfect late October reading (I could pretend that I fell behind in my “All Shakespeare in a Year” reading just so Macbeth would fall at the right time of year.)I've read this quite a few times before – my kids acted in an adapted version when they were small, in which “the Curse” was demonstrated when our Macbeth tripped and split his forehead on the edge of the cauldron, and my daughter was the cutest little witch ever – and, as with most great literature, the play just gets better with each reading. This time I supplemented my reading with Garry Wills's “Witches and Jesuits,” which, while perhaps a bit overstated in its claims, is interesting and pointed me to some aspects I'd previously missed, and also Marjorie Garber's wonderful chapter on the play in her “Shakespeare After All.” The Arkangel recording, with Hugh Ross and Harriet Walter (and David Tennant as the porter!) is marvelous, and, as a fun “extra” I watched the Shakespeare Retold version, in which Macbeth is a very ambitious head chef in a popular restaurant. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Dark and supernatural, Macbeth is one of my favorite of Shakespeare's tragedies. One of the biggest questions I always ask is, "Would the weird sisters' prophecies come to pass even if Macbeth hadn't gone all murder crazy?"Macbeth is a great cautionary tale of the dangers of ambition, especially when it comes to power. Shakespeare explores what lengths men will go to for power, especially when they believe it is owed them.Adding this copy to my Little Free Library in hopes that someone in the neighborhood can learn something from it, especially as certain phrases remind me of the current political climate and I know the way my neighbors tend to vote.