Searching for: "Christopher Marlowe"
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The complete dramatic works of Christopher Marlowe, plus a brand new docudrama about his death Christopher Marlowe was the most celebrated writer of his generation, surpassing even William Shakespeare during his lifetime. A playwright, poet, hellraiser, rebel and spy, he lived fast and died young, stabbed to death in a Deptford lodging house aged only 29. This definitive collection comprises all six of his groundbreaking plays, as well as a riveting documentary drama examining the mysterious circumstances around Marlowe's killing. Dido, Queen of Carthage - Inspired by Virgil's Aenid, Marlowe's first play tells the tragic tale of the doomed love affair between the Carthaginian queen...read more
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A BBC Radio 4 full-cast adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's notorious portrait of a weak king in thrall to his passions, who pays the ultimate price for choosing his heart over his political responsibilities. Originally broadcast 13 September 2009 in the ‘Drama on 3’ slot. Edward, preoccupied by the banishment of his lover, Gaveston, barely acknowledges the nascent crises that threaten his realm. Chief among his critics is the morally righteous Mortimer, horrified by the king's criminal lapse of duty and yet able to countenance the further crime of taking arms against his king. As their enmity develops, and Mortimer's political grip tightens, he takes Queen Isabella as a lover, and...read more
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The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust, that was first performed sometime between 1588 and Marlowe's death in 1593. Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era, several years later. One of the most durable myths in Western culture, the story of Faust tells of a learned German doctor who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power. Early enactments of Faust's damnation were often the raffish fare of clowns and low comedians. But the young Elizabethan playwright Christopher...read more
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LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 recordings of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for September 30, 2012. Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day.[2] He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death. (Summary by Wikipedia...read more
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Richard Burton narrates the second volume of this famous dramatic chronicle of the English Crown, a treasure of the BBC radio archive published on audio for the very first time. Vivat Rex is the landmark drama series first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977. Over the course of 26 instalments, each one narrated by Richard Burton with a full cast, the fortunes of the English Crown are followed through 225 years of British history, from Edward II’s accession in 1307 to the birth of Elizabeth I. Each drama is adapted by Martin Jenkins from the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe and their Elizabethan contemporaries.This second volume features the final 13 instalments, beginning with Martin...read more
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Richard Burton narrates this famous dramatic chronicle of the English Crown, a treasure of the BBC radio archive published on CD for the very first time. Vivat Rex is the landmark drama series first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977. Over the course of 26 instalments, each one narrated by Richard Burton with a full cast, the fortunes of the English Crown are followed through 225 years of British history, from Edward II’s accession in 1307 to the birth of Elizabeth I. This first volume includes the first 13 instalments, beginning with John Hurt’s portrayal of Edward II. The stellar cast includes John Hurt, Paul Eddington, Keith Michell, Derek Jacobi, Michael Redgrave, Maureen...read more
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English Poetry, Volume 1 - An Introduction. The English language has grown into the Worlds pre-dominant spoken language. It's estimated there are over one million words with which to do this. It's sources are rich and diverse, absorbing from other cultures and times without hesitation. It surely follows that when we add the talents of Shakespeare, Keats, Shelley, Kipling and Blake to a myriad of others that its beauty and reach entrance us with their thoughts and visions. In two volumes these remarkable poems present a wonderful companion through the long heritage of the English Language and its poets. The poems in volume 1 are; English Poetry - An Introduction; The Passionate...read more
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The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, normally known simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play. (Summary by...read more
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The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play. "No Elizabethan play outside the Shakespeare canon has raised more controversy than Doctor Faustus. There is no agreement concerning the nature of the text and the date of composition... and the centrality of the Faust legend in the history of the Western world precludes any definitive agreement on the...read more
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Two sides of the same coin most would say. And without doubt for the majority of authors in this wide-ranging collection that would be absolutely right.Shakespeare was equally at home with drama or poetry, but he was exceptional. We have not seen his like before or since on such a scale. His contemporaries Fletcher, Fairfax and the many more that followed sometimes also wove their verse into their dramas and comedies, others such as Marlowe and Behn wrote both within their plays and as separate works.Words are an exceptional creation. The building blocks of language built to convey, discuss and share our most complex thoughts and ideas and writers, whether they be of prose, poetry or...read more
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Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost Elizabethan tragedian before William Shakespeare, he is known for his magnificent blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own untimely death. The Jew of Malta (1589) is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean. The Jew of Malta is considered to have been a major influence on William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The play contains a prologue in which the character Machiavel, a...read more
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Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur 'the lame'. Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in Elizabethan public drama; it marks a turning away from the clumsy language and loose plotting of the earlier Tudor dramatists, and a new interest in fresh and vivid language, memorable action, and intellectual complexity. Along with Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, it may be considered the first popular success of London's public stage. Marlowe, generally considered the greatest of the University Wits, influenced playwrights well into the Jacobean period, and echoes of...read more
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The meeting, the courtship, the wedding and the honeymoon have all now been completed.Having got this far the real journey lays before every married couple seeking the love, stability, support and joys of a long-term relationship. The state of the newly-weds is now at hand. The meeting of minds and the living together can become a source of friction or ignition to a deeper understanding. Physically the very first blush of lust and desire is replaced by an understanding that life and our own biological and emotional clocks, for some, may now require that children be brought into the mix and families raised.Yes, that interlude when the bliss of being a newly-wed - announced and seen as...read more
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Two young people, the epitome of young masculine and feminine beauty, fall in love at first sight, but their union is forbidden by the tyranny of their guardians and of geography itself, for they live on opposite sides of the Hellespont. To enjoy one night of love, Leander dares to swim this formidable strait, unluckily meeting the god Neptune along the way. Unaware of the resentment he has aroused by rejecting the advances of this old queen of the sea, the lad gains the shore and, once past the shock of appearing naked on his lover's doorstep, finds his way into her bed. There the young couple, although ignorant of the facts of life (Hero is a "nun" in the temple of Venus!), discover "all...read more
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Two young people, the epitome of young masculine and feminine beauty, fall in love at first sight, but their union is forbidden by the tyranny of their guardians and of geography itself, for they live on opposite sides of the Hellespont. To enjoy one night of love, Leander dares to swim this formidable strait, unluckily meeting the god Neptune along the way. Unaware of the resentment he has aroused by rejecting the advances of this old queen of the sea, the lad gains the shore and, once past the shock of appearing naked on his lover's doorstep, finds his way into her bed. There the young couple, although ignorant of the facts of life (Hero is a "nun" in the temple of Venus!), discover...read more
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Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur 'the lame'. Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in Elizabethan public drama; it marks a turning away from the clumsy language and loose plotting of the earlier Tudor dramatists, and a new interest in fresh and vivid language, memorable action, and intellectual complexity. Along with Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, it may be considered the first popular success of London's public stage. In Part 2, Tamburlaine grooms his sons to be conquerors in his wake as he continues to conquer his neighbouring kingdoms. One of his sons,...read more
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JEW OF MALTA by Christopher Marlowe. Adapted by and Starring David Serero as Barabas. Studio Cast Album recording of 2017 from Off Broadway production. This play was the influence to Shakespeare to later create the Merchant of...read more
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"If music be the food of love, play on" was one of Shakespeare's finest lines. If music is food, then poetry is the wine. In this volume of classic love poetry, the flavoured capture of words and rhythms makes us think more carefully of words and their value to us. They also surprise us with their structure and meaning, layering in thoughts and emotions that we might otherwise shy away from. Poems are wonderful ways to express what we feel for a very special someone. Narrated by Stella Gonet , David Shaw-Parker , Ghizela Rowe , Tim Graham , Alex...read more
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Love. What is love?The question is asked by each of us but the answer remains elusive. Dictionaries summon up many words but none fulfill. Love itself is often ethereal, felt but only seen in a glance, a look, a fleeting touch. Part of Love’s beauty is perhaps in the fact that the question never can be adequately answered; its ephemeral, a chimera of the heart and only felt. Our own experiences are unique and personal to ourselves and of little help defining it for another.Love is perhaps best expressed through poetry. As Plato said 2500 years ago “At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet”. Writing a love poem for ones’ partner is seen as the most romantic of gestures....read more
