"Shakespeare's popular comedy of love and mistaken identity is accompanied by a section on reading Shakespeare's language, information on Shakespeare's life and theater, explanatory notes, annotated reading lists, and an essay."--

Algernon is a gentlemen from a wealthy family. Algernon's close friend Jack, has a ward, Cecily. Both Algernon and Jack have created alter egos to make life more interesting. Algernon arrives for a weekend visit in the country posing as Earnest. Having heard of Earnest's misadventures, Cicely has developed an infatuation with the rogue, and Algernon's impersonation of him works famously on Cicely. Meanwhile, Algernon's cousin, Gwendolyn, arrives for...

Hilary believes fervently that consciousness is more than the sum of our biology. When she receives a position at a prestigious think tank, she develops a novel experiment to prove that humans are intrinsically altruistic, but the results are something she never anticipated. Includes a post-show discussion with Mark Tramo, a neuroscientist, neurologist, and musician who is a professor in the UCLA Schools of Medicine, Music, and Letters & Science. Recorded...

"London, 1601--a golden city soon to erupt in flames. Shay is a messenger-girl, falconer, and fortune teller who sees the future in the patterns of birds. Nonesuch is the dark star of the city's fabled Blackfriars Theatre, where a cast of press-ganged boys perform for London's gentry. When the pair meet, Shay falls in love with the performances--and with Nonesuch himself. As their bond deepens, they create the Ghost Theatre, an underground troupe...

Presents a newly edited text of William Shakespeare's "King Lear," along with detailed notes and performance annotations, introduction by Harold Bloom, commentaries by various writers including Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, and John Keats, plot summary, biography, and literary criticism.

"This little known mystery will surprise and delight Christie fans. Written in 1934, the story concerns a physicist named Sir Claude Amory who has come up with a formula for an atom bomb. In the first act, Sir Claude is poisoned (in his coffee, naturally) and Hercule Poirot is called in to solve the case. He does so after many wonderful twists and turns in true Christie fashion."--Amazon.com.

As arrogant and brash as he was talented and innovative, Ben Jonson lived a life as rife with drama as any of his many plays. He was jailed more than once for staging dramas that satirized the powers that be, and nearly had his ears and nose mutilated after collaborating on a play that lampooned King James I. Friend and colleague of Shakespeare, he is considered by many to have been the first poet laureate of England. This program examines how Jonson's...

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.

Shakespeare's troubled character comes to life in this program in the capable hands of leading scholars, as they discuss the major themes of the play, its plot, and the actions of its main characters. Analyzing key scenes, scholars Russell Jackson and Stanley Wells of Stratford-upon-Avon offer insights into the underlying meaning of Hamlet's eloquent soliloquies, as well as the play's eight violent deaths, adultery, ghostly haunting, and ultimate...

While King Lear has again and again been described as Shakespeare's greatest work-the tragedy in which he exhibits most fully his multitude of literary powers-it is the least read, and for many, the most difficult to analyze. In this program, key scenes are dramatized. Noted Shakespearean experts, Professors Robert Smallwood and Stanley Wells, take on the task of examining Lear's enigmatic character and the often obscure topics and themes that comprise...