A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare, Roy Hudd, Amanda Root, and Arkangel Cast

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A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare)
Available from Amazon
Price: $4.96
Updated on 6-30-2008.

Features

Audio CD

Publisher: Audio Partners; Unabridged edition (May 10, 2005)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1932219242

ISBN-13: 978-1932219241

Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches

Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces ()

From AudioFile
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is a difficult play to follow in audio only. Many of the scenes, especially those involving Bottom and his motley troupe of actors, rely heavily on their visual elements. This Arkangel production does include some interesting voices, however. Most notably, Oberon and Titania are played by black actors David Harewood and Adjoa Andoh, whose accents--Jamaican and West African, respectively--give a refreshing texture to the fairy scenes. It's too bad some of those same scenes are undone by lame echo effects that are not only cloying, but at times make the lines difficult to hear. D.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Book Description
Lysander loves Hermia, but Hermia is to be married to Demetrius, who is still the apple of Helena's eye. Hermia and Lysander plan to elope so they tell Helena, who warns Demetrius. Demetrius follows Hermia into the woods, then Helena follows Demetrius. When Oberon, king of the fairies, uses his magic to cast a spell on the four runaway lovers in a midsummer wood outside Athens, chaos ensues. This wonderful production is performed by Roy Hudd, Amanda Root, and the Arkangel cast.

Reader Reviews
I bought this audio recording of MSND to use as I taught the play to my 10th graders. The actors do well, and this is the complete version of the play. However, some of the character sound effects can get annoying, as well as some of the music. For whatever reason, the faeries' voices have a slight echo effect, which isn't too annoying, but when a faery--such as Puck or Oberon--is placing a spell on someone, there is an extreme echo placed on the voice. The echo was so extreme for the end of Act III, when Puck is confusing Lysander and Demetrius, that it gave me a slight headache. Also, while the use of a little music can be nice, many of my students didn't like it and I found that the music was on a little too long in some places and it stalls the progression of the play. The "braying" of Bottom sounds more like a pig grunt, which gets really old after awhile. Overall, I would recommend this version to those who don't mind slight annoyances like these--and maybe I'm being nitpicky--but if you think that those will wear on you, try to find another version. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare)
Available from Amazon
Price: $4.96
Updated on 6-30-2008.