Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare
Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare
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Troilus and Cressida

Author: William Shakespeare, John Sheppard, Anthony White, Gary Watson, Julian Pettifer, Clive Swift, full cast

Narrator: John Sheppard, Anthony White, Gary Watson, Julian Pettifer, Clive Swift, full cast

Unabridged: 3 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/26/2020


Synopsis

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time. ‘He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood beget hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love.’ Shakespeare’s epic tale of war, love and loss Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, as war rages around them. After vowing to be faithful, Cressida is traded to the Greek camp, where she then agrees to see another man. Troilus witnesses Cressida's unfaithfulness and vows to put more effort into the war. The play ends after further deaths on both sides, and with no resolution in sight. All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations. Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production. The full cast includes:John Sheppard; Gary Watson; Anthony White; Julian Pettifer; John Barton; David Gibson; Clive Swift; Donald Beves; John Wilders; Noel Annan; James Taylor‑Whitehead; Tony Church; George Rylands; John Barton; John Arnott; David Buck; Peter Woodthorpe; Anthony Jacobs; Wendy Gifford; Christine Baker; Dorothy Mulcahy; Irene Worth.

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on July 01, 2023

When I was young and naive, I loved Troilus and Cressida for its brave cynicism, but now that I am older--and my outlook is bleaker--I appreciate it for its realism and compassion. Shakespeare shows us a world in which lovers yearn to be true and warriors strive to be brave, but both inevitably fail......more

Goodreads review by Buck on June 06, 2009

It’s a timeless story, really: sensitive young guy gets carried away by the noble delirium of first love and goes all mushy over the dirty ho who punched his v-card. Complications ensue. If you think my synopsis sounds crude, all I can say is, don’t read Troilus and Cressida, because it gets a whole......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on July 24, 2019

One of Shakespeare's problem plays because, well, for one, it's really difficult, but mainly because it's comedy but not really. Actually it's a very cynical comedy. Troilus and Cressida is long, generates a lot of confusion and frustration and has a limited stage history, but it's complicated i......more

Goodreads review by Nick on August 13, 2017

So a lot of people seem to think this is really boring and difficult. I'll give them the second one, but boring? This tale of a tangential "romance" (if you can call it that) to the Trojan War is rife with all kinds of awesome feats du language (oh yeah, I wrote that) and lots of tiny but cool momen......more

Goodreads review by Olivia-Savannah on March 12, 2022

Originally, I rated this play 3 stars. But then I watched a fantastic adaption and liked the play a lot more. Upon rereading it I kind of loved it. Which just goes to show how important it is to also watch adaptations of plays when reading them and critiquing them as they are first and foremostly me......more