Arkangel Shakespeare

The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare is a notable series of audio drama presentations of 38 of William Shakespeare's 39 plays.[upper-alpha 1] The recordings were released from 1998 onwards, first on audio cassette and then later on CD.

The plays are unabridged and based on The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, published by Penguin Classics. The music for all the plays was written and produced by composer Dominique Le Gendre.[1] The production features nearly 400 actors, almost all past or present members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare won the 2004 Audie Award for "Best Audio Drama".[2]

The logo on the box cover features a figure of Shakespeare composed entirely from books, reminiscent of the Renaissance Italian painting The Librarian by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

The project spanned five years and cost $3 million. The series represents the collective vision of four individuals: Tom Treadwell, a Shakespeare scholar; Bill Shepherd, a film producer; Clive Brill, producer and director at the BBC; and Dominique Le Gendre, a composer.

The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare was published by Audio Partners.[3]

The cast members of each play are listed below.

Notes

• Emily Woof – Helena
• Sam West – Bertram
• Edward de Souza – Parolles
• Maggie Steed – Countess
• Clive Swift – King of France
• Denys Hawthorne – Lafeu

• Ciarán Hinds – Antony
• Estelle Kohler – Cleopatra
• Ian Hughes – Octavius Caesar
• David Burke – Enobarbus
• Eve Matheson – Charmian
• Emma Gregory – Iras

• Niamh Cusack – Rosalind
• Stephen Mangan – Orlando
• Victoria Hamilton – Celia
• Jonathan Tafler – Oliver
• Gerard Murphy – Jacques
• Clarence Smith – Touchstone
• Philip Voss – Duke Senior

• David Tennant – Antipholus of Syracuse
• Brendan Coyle – Antipholus of Ephesus
• Alan Cox – Dromio of Syracuse
• Jason O'Mara – Dromio of Ephesus
• Niamh Cusack – Adriana
• Sorcha Cusack – Luciana
• Trevor Peacock – Egeon
• Helen Ryan – Abbess

• Paul Jesson – Coriolanus
• Marjorie Yates – Volumnia
• Ewan Hooper – Menenius
• Martin Marquez – Aufidius
• Shirley Dixon – Valeria

• Jack Shepherd – Cymbeline
• Stephen Mangan – Cloten
• Sophie Thompson – Imogen
• Suzanne Bertish – The Queen
• Ben Porter – Posthumus
• Ron Cook – Iachimo

• Simon Russell Beale – Hamlet
• Imogen Stubbs – Ophelia
• Jane Lapotaire – Gertrude
• Bob Peck – Claudius
• Norman Rodway – Polonius
• Paul Jesson – The Ghost/Gravedigger
• Alan Cox – Horatio
• Damian Lewis – Laertes

• Julian Glover – Henry IV
• Jamie Glover – Prince Hal
• Richard Griffiths – Sir John Falstaff
• Alan Cox – Hotspur
• Elizabeth Spriggs – Mistress Quickly
• Jane Slavin – Lady Percy

• Julian Glover – Henry IV
• Jamie Glover – Prince Hal
• Richard Griffiths – Sir John Falstaff
• Peter Jeffrey – Northumberland
• Elizabeth Spriggs – Mistress Quickly
• Edward de Souza – Pistol
• Sidney Livingstone – Bardolph
• Geoffrey Bayldon – Shallow
• Christian Rodska – Silence, Lord Chief Justice
• Eve Matheson – Doll Tearsheet
• Chris Pavlo – Page

• Jamie Glover – Henry V
• Brian Cox – Chorus
• Ian Hughes – Fluellen
• Bill Nighy – King of France
• Alan Cox – Mountjoy
• Elizabeth Spriggs – The Hostess
• Edward de Souza – Pistol

• David Tennant – Henry VI
• Norman Rodway – Duke of Gloucester
• John Bowe – Talbot
• Amanda Root – Joan of Arc
• Isla Blair – Countess
• Clive Merrison – York

• David Tennant – Henry VI
• Clive Merrison – York
• John Bowe – Warwick
• Kelly Hunter – Queen Margaret
• Norman Rodway – Duke of Gloucester
• Isla Blair – Duchess of Gloucester
• David Troughton – Richard Plantagenet
• Kenneth Cranham – Jack Cade
• Jamie Glover – Young Clifford

• David Tennant – Henry VI
• Clive Merrison – York
• John Bowe – Warwick
• Kelly Hunter – Queen Margaret
• David Troughton – Richard of Gloucester
• Stephen Boxer – Edward IV
• Jamie Glover – Clifford

• Paul Jesson – Henry VIII
• Jane Lapotaire – Queen Katherine
• Timothy West – Cardinal Wolsey
• Anton Lesser – Duke of Norfolk
• Sean Baker – Prologue/Epilogue
• Katharine Schlesinger – Anne Bullen

• Michael Feast – Julius Caesar
• John Bowe – Marcus Brutus
• Adrian Lester – Marcus Antonius
• Geoffrey Whitehead – Cassius
• Estelle Kohler – Portia

• Michael Feast – King John
• Michael Maloney – Philip the Bastard
• Eileen Atkins – Constance
• Margaret Robertson – Elinor
• Bill Nighy – Cardinal Pandolph
• Trevor Peacock – Hubert
• Geoffrey Whitehead – King Philip

• Trevor Peacock – Lear
• Anton Lesser – Kent
• Penny Downie – Goneril
• Samantha Bond – Regan
• Julia Ford – Cordelia
• Gerard Murphy – Edmund
• David Tennant – Edgar
• Clive Merrison – Gloucester
• John Rogan – The Fool

• Greg Wise – King of Navarre
• Samantha Bond – Princess of France
• Alex Jennings – Berowne
• Alan Howard – Don Armado
• Emma Fielding – Rosaline

• Hugh Ross – Macbeth
• Harriet Walter – Lady Macbeth
• John Bowe – Banquo
• Gary Bakewell – Macduff
• Sean Baker – Ross
• Mark Bonnar – Malcolm
• David Tennant – The Porter

• Roger Allam – The Duke of Vienna
• Simon Russell Beale – Angelo
• Stella Gonet – Isabella
• Stephen Mangan – Lucio
• Christopher Benjamin – Escalus
• Desmond Barrit – Pompey
• Jonathan Firth – Claudio

• Bill Nighy – Antonio
• Trevor Peacock – Shylock
• Julian Rhind-Tutt – Bassanio
• Haydn Gwynne – Portia
• David Tennant – Launcelot Gobbo
• Alison Reid – Nerissa
• Geoffrey Whitehead – The Duke/Tubal

• Dinsdale Landen – Sir John Falstaff
• Sylvestra Le Touzel – Mistress Ford
• Penny Downie – Mistress Page
• Nicholas Woodeson – Ford
• Clive Swift – Justice Shallow

• David Harewood – Oberon
• Adjoa Andoh – Titania
• Richard McCabe – Puck
• Roy Hudd – Bottom
• Amanda Root – Hermia
• Saskia Wickham – Helena
• Rupert Penry-Jones – Lysander
• Clarence Smith – Demetrius

• Saskia Reeves – Beatrice
• Samuel West – Benedick
• Paul Jesson – Don Pedro
• Jason O'Mara – Claudio
• Abigail Docherty – Hero
• Bryan Pringle – Dogberry
• Steve Hodson – Don John

• Don Warrington – Othello
• David Threlfall – Iago
• Anne-Marie Duff – Desdemona
• Suzanne Bertish – Emelia
• Jasper Britton – Cassio
• Stephen Mangan – Roderigo
• Julian Glover – The Duke of Venice

• Sir John Gielgud – John Gower
• Nigel Terry – Pericles
• Stella Gonet – Thaisa
• Julie Cox – Marina

• Rupert Graves – Richard II
• Julian Glover – Henry IV
• John Wood – John of Gaunt
• Isla Blair – Duchess of Gloucester
• Saira Todd – Queen Isabel
• John Nettleton – York
• Peter Jeffrey - Northumberland
• Rupert Penry-Jones - Aumerle
• Steve Hodson - Mowbray
• Edward de Souza - Carlisle
• Susan Brown - Duchess of York
• Geoffrey Bayldon - Gardener
• Alan Cox - Percy

• David Troughton – Richard
• Philip Voss – Buckingham
• Sonia Ritter – Queen Elizabeth
• Saskia Wickham – Lady Anne
• Margaret Robertson – Queen Margaret
• John McAndrew – Clarence/Lovell
• Stephen Boxer – Edward IV/Oxford
• David Tennant – The Archbishop/Ghost of Henry VI

• Joseph Fiennes – Romeo
• Maria Miles – Juliet
• Elizabeth Spriggs – Nurse
• David Tennant – Mercutio
• Trevor Peacock – Capulet
• Jonathan Tafler – Tybalt/The Apothecary
• Clive Swift – Friar Laurence/Chorus

• Roger Allam – Petruchio
• Frances Barber – Kate
• Alan Cox – Lucentio
• Clarence Smith – Tranio
• Michael Higgs – Grumio

• Bob Peck – Prospero
• Adrian Lester – Ariel
• Richard McCabe – Caliban
• Jennifer Ehle – Miranda
• Jamie Glover – Ferdinand
• Simon Russell Beale – Antonio
• Arthur Cox – Stephano
• Desmond Barrit – Trinculo

• Alan Howard – Timon
• Norman Rodway – Apemantus
• Damian Lewis – Alcibiades
• John McAndrew – Flavius

• David Troughton – Titus
• Harriet Walter – Tamora
• Paterson Joseph – Aaron
• David Burke – Marcus
• Ian Hughes – Saturninus

• Ian Pepperell – Troilus
• Julia Ford – Cressida
• Norman Rodway – Pandarus
• Gerard Murphy – Ulysses
• David Troughton – Thersites

• Niamh Cusack – Viola
• Amanda Root – Olivia
• Paterson Joseph – Feste
• Julian Glover – Malvolio
• Jonathan Firth – Orsino
• Dinsdale Landen – Sir Toby Belch
• Richard Cordery – Sir Andrew Aguecheek
• Will Keen – Sebastian
• Maggie McCarthy – Maria
• Alex Lowe – Antonio

• Michael Maloney – Proteus
• Damian Lewis – Valentine
• Lucy Robinson – Julia
• Saskia Wickham – Silva
• John Woodvine – Launce
• Nicholas Murchie – Speed

• Jonathan Firth – Palamon
• Nigel Cooke – Arcite
• Helen Schlesinger – Emilia
• Geoffrey Whitehead – Theseus
• Sarah-Jane Holm – The Gaoler's Daughter
• Simon Russell Beale – Prologue and Epilogue

• Ciarán Hinds – Leontes
• Sinéad Cusack – Hermione
• Eileen Atkins – Paulina
• Paul Jesson – Polixenes
• Geoffrey Whitehead – Camillo
• Alex Jennings – Autolycus
• Julian Glover – Antigonus
• Sir John Gielgud – Time, the Chorus

• Complete Works of Shakespeare

• Measure for Measure, Quite an Earful
• CD PROJECT BRINGS OUT THE POETRY IN SHAKESPEARE PLAYS
• BBC Audiobooks sold
• Shakespeare for the ears / Expansive collection brings all his plays together on CD
• To Buy or Not to Buy?
• 2004 Audie Awards® - APA (en-US) Archived 2022-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
• To the last syllable