William Shakespeare
1) Hamlet
In this BBC full-cast production of As You Like It, Rosalind is banished from the Royal court, heartbroken over Orlando. Will the two find a way to reunite?
A comedy of wit, disguise and love, Shakespeare's tale about the enchanted world of the Forest of Arden remains as moving as it is funny.
Helena Bonham Carter stars as Rosalind, with David Morrissey as Orlando and Natasha Little as Celia.
BBC radio has a
In this BBC full-cast production of The Taming of the Shrew, the freedom and virility of women is frowned upon. Will Petruchio's quest to 'tame' his new wife succeed?
Layers of assumed identity, elaborate role-playing, and acerbic exchanges of wit reveal the real relationship between men and women in this exuberant production of one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies.
Gerard McSorley stars as Petruchio and Ruth Mitchell
In this BBC full-cast production, the ghost of Hamlet's father orders him to kill the man who took his life, his throne and his wife: Claudius.
In a tale of caution, tragedy and revenge, Hamlet is driven to madness by his mission and his father's legacy.
Michael Sheen stars as Hamlet, with Kenneth Cranham as Claudius, Juliet Stevenson as Gertrude and Ellie Beaven as Ophelia.
BBC radio has a unique heritage
In this BBC full-cast production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena run to the woods and stumble into a life separate from time itself.
Fairy magic wreaks havoc and midsummer madness takes over as lovers tread the delicate line between fantasy and reality.
Sylvestra le Touzel stars as Titania in this delightful comic fantasy, with Samuel West as Lysander, David Threlfall as Theseus,
In this BBC full-cast production of Romeo And Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers fight for each other until their dying breath. Can their two feuding families reconcile?
With the intimacy of radio, the full beauty and meaning of some of the most lyrical lines ever written can be truly heard: tenderness and passion, betrayal and bigotry are brilliantly evoked as the tale comes to its tragic conclusion.
Douglas Henshall stars
In this BBC full-cast production of The Merchant of Venice, love, bigotry, greed, and justice are entwined.
Shakespeare's classic play explores the eternal themes of love and hate, mercy and justice, with parallel stories centred on the moneylender, Shylock, and the lovers, Portia and Bassanio. Shylock's angry insistence on the repayment of his debt from Bassanio ends in the Venetian courts, where he demands his pound of flesh.
9) The tempest
10) King Lear
11) Julius Caesar
Shakespeare's comedy play Much Ado About Nothing pivots around the impediments to love for young betrothed Hero and Claudio when Hero is falsely accused of infidelity and the "lover's trap" set for the arrogant and assured Benedick who has sworn of marriage and his gentle adversary Beatrice. The merry war between Benedick and Beatrice with the promptings of their friends soon dissolves into farcical love, while Hero's supposed infidelity
...The Taming of the Shrew is perhaps one of Shakespeare's most controversial plays by modern standards. Hinging on the courtship between the arrogant Petruchio and the "shrew" of the title Katherina, it is unclear whether Shakespeare's blatantly misogynistic themes were in earnest or tongue in cheek. The charming and tender Bianca is forbidden to marry until her elder sister, Katherine is spoken for. Bianca's suitors enlist Petruchio to woo
...15) Macbeth
Henry IV, Part 1 masterfully combines comedy and historic events in fifteenth-century England while...