Listening order for Shakespeare?

[kate_nepveu]

If I were planning to listen to full-cast recordings of all 38 of Shakespeare's plays, what order would you recommend I do it in? Chronological order, chronological order except with the histories in historical order, thematic, worst-to-best, something else?

If it matters, I've read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, and part of King Lear (the class hated it so much we talked our teacher out of finishing it); and seen one version or another of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Winter's Tale. And The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. I think that's it.

Comments

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I'd start with the most appealing casts and go from there--except keep the histories in some semblance of historical order. Actually I'd divide theme in two arcs: 1) Henry VI (all parts) to Richard III and 2) Richard II, Henry IV (both parts), Henry V.

I started to listening to these really cool recordings with really famous casts last fall but I never kept up with it. (Only got through The Tempest, which had Jennifer Ehle among others.) I never have problems following stage versions, but purely audio versions are hard to follow--even when you're familiar with it--without the text. Well, at least for me. I wonder if you're planning on listening to the same. Of course, the name escapes me now.

I always liked King Lear. I hate Macbeth, though. I blame a bad teacher in 11th grade.

[kate_nepveu]

The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare, http://www.audiopartners.com/shakespeare/ ? Yeah, they were just reviewed in _Audiofile_, a magazine I get, and then they appeared on Demonoid. This is not a project that would have occured to me otherwise.

I don't know how well this will work--I haven't had any problems with BBC radio plays, but they were written for radio. I haven't tried listening to any stage plays yet.

[kate_nepveu]

PS--the problem with starting with an appealing cast is that I might not keep up with it. I'm thinking that if I did something like chronological, at least I'd have _The Tempest_ to look forward to.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

PS--the problem with starting with an appealing cast is that I might not keep up with it.

Well, that is what happened to me, so maybe you should ignore me. :) And I was also listening to the Arkangel ones; I'd seen a review of them and gotten really excited about the project. I may have to try them again when my life calms down.

The main problem with chronological is that I've never liked the early plays nearly as much; they feel like such a slog to go through. Which makes gwyneira's suggestion of chronologically by genre a good one: you won't have to wait quite as long to get to the best plays.

[kate_nepveu]

Icon!

Umm, sorry.

Yes, that might work too, depending on what I'm in the mood for. I don't have all of them yet, so this isn't an urgent concern.

I might also start with one I know pretty well, like _R&J_ (as much as I dislike Romeo and Juliet, having seen the good-bits version in _Shakespeare in Love_ fairly recently will help my memory) just to see how well listening to a stage play works. All kinds of possibilities . . .

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I now have many Muppet icons. (But I still need more.) I made this one from the images on the Muppet stamps. Which I need to buy more of, so I don't have to go back to boring old flags for a really, really long time.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I've never listened to all of the plays (that sounds like fun!), but when I read them, I tend to do it thematically (comedies, tragedies, histories, romances) and chronologically within each theme. I do this with the histories even though that puts them out of historical chronological order, because the plays he wrote later (Richard II, Henry IV 1 and 2, and Henry V) are really better than the earlier set, and I find it disconcerting to go from those to the three Henry VI plays.

Do you have particular recordings in mind? I wonder if I could talk my husband into some of them for car trips.

[kate_nepveu]

This set: http://www.audiopartners.com/shakespeare/

Chronologically within theme sounds like a possibility too, and that's good to know about the quality of the histories, thanks.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Are you really planning on doing that? I hope you report on it.

I wouldn't go in strict chronological order, because you'll end up with several less-than-good plays in a row. Loose chronological order, however, might be interesting because you'll see how his writing improves, how he tries versions of certain characters and themes early on and then does them better later.

For instance, I would conclude with The Tempest, which may not technically be his last but thematically works as a conclusion. And I would begin with one of his better early plays, like The Comedy of Errors or Richard III, rather than slogging through all three Henry VI plays, which might put you off the entire project.

[kate_nepveu]

I'm not _planning_ on it, but it's a definite possibility at this point. I'm putting most audiobooks on the booklog as well, and this would definitely get written up.

I was thinking of loosely following this timeline: http://www.bardweb.net/plays/timeline.html , which would put _The Comedy of Errors_ first.

I am surprised that _The Tempest_ *isn't* his last; _Sandman_ very much warped my brain on that one.

[signy1.livejournal.com]

'The Tempest' is his last solo work. It may even be his last work-- I don't think anyone's really sure if the apocrypha (like 'Cardenio' or 'Two Noble Kinsmen,' which I highly recommend, by the way,) are even partially his.

My personal feeling on his works is that some of his plays are pure hell to get through, and you might want to save some of the ones you know you'll like as a reward for getting through the clunkers.

[mdevnich.livejournal.com]

I have no useful information, I just wanted to say I hope you report on how this works. I think I would approach them randomly-- maybe start with a few I like, then throw in some I haven't seen-- I've actually seen most of his plays on stage, now that I think about it, which is neat.

I also hated King Lear. It may have been that I was too young, at 12 or 13 or whatever age. Or it could be, I don't know, that it's a total downer. I wouldn't want to jump to conclusions!

[kate_nepveu]

If I do it, I'll booklog each play as I go. We'll see. There's something to be said for the random approach, but I wonder how much information I would get out of a rough chronological approach in terms of changes of style? I don't know.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

I'd say do the histories in historical order and the comedies and tragedies in chronological order. I'd start with the histories and then alternate comedies and tragedies.

Then I'd do the sonnets and the rest of his poetry. *wink*

[kate_nepveu]

Why start with the histories?

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

To keep them in one block and get them out of the way of the tragedies and comedies, which are more numerous.

Well...

[seawasp]

I don't have a specific order. If you prefer to get the good stuff at the end, though, save The Tempest for last.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

Do 'em in internal chronological order, not publication order. The world-building works better that way.

[thormation.livejournal.com]

Do them in alphabetical order.

No, I'm serious. You're unfamiliar with most of them, so most of them will not stick the first time through anyway, due to the antiquity of the language at the very least. Don't try for anything "deep" at this point. Just let them wash over you to get a feel for the shape of the story. Some of these you really aren't going to want to listen to again anyhow. There's a reason that half of the plays are performed a lot and half of them are performed as stunts or by obsessed enthusiasts. Alphabetically will give you a variety of comedies and tragedies, and will put off the dreadful historical plays for the first third, giving you plenty of time to reconsider the whole project.

And now that I think about it, scrap all that. Random selection would be much better. Not so many Henrys in a row for one thing. But save _The Tempest_ for last, just for the closing bits.