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.