Hamlet [by William Shakespeare] [Version 2]

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet exacts on his uncle Claudius for murdering King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and taking as his wife Gertrude, the old king's widow and Prince Hamlet's mother. The play vividly portrays both true and feigned madness – from overwhelming grief to seething rage – and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption. 

Read by Sam Stinson.

link to the free audiobook
Hamlet [by William Shakespeare] [Version 2]

Mary Tudor [by Victor Hugo]

If Queen Mary I of England wants something, you'd better not try and stop her, or else you might soon find yourself without a head! When this hot-headed young Royal's new favourite courtier, an Italian gentleman named Fabiano Fabiani who has already made himself very unpopular with the court, is caught sneaking around with another girl - a commoner no less! - the Queen begins to plan her revenge in the only way suitable for a Queen.

Cast
Narrator: bala
Mary I of England: Kristin Gjerløw
Jane Talbot: Beth Thomas
Lord Clinton: alanmapstone
Joshua Farnaby: Peter Tucker
Gilbert: ToddHW
Fabiano Fabiani: Eden Rea-Hedrick
Simon Renard: Bob Neufeld
Lord Chandos: Elizabeth Klett
Lord Montague: Greg Przywara
Man/ The Jew: Rob Board
Lord Gardiner/Lord Chancellor: Joseph Tabler
Master Eneas: Rob Board
A jailer: Elizabeth Klett
The people/voices 1: Michele Fry
The People/Voices 2: Mary Kay
The People/Voices 3: Beth Thomas
Standard-bearer 1: Shakira Searle
Standard-bearer 2: Mary Kay

link to the free audiobook

Mary Tudor [by Victor Hugo]

Women Beware Women [by Thomas Middleton]

Thomas Middleton's masterful 17th century tragedy is packed with adultery, incest, intrigue, revenge, and inventive methods for murder. Leantio elopes with Bianca against her family's wishes and tries to hide her in the house he shares with his widowed mother. Yet the Duke sees Bianca at the window and is powerfully attracted to her, threatening Leantio's security. Livia, a wealthy widow, delights in intrigue, aiding the Duke to satisfy his desires with Bianca, and bringing together her brother Hippolito with her niece Isabella, despite their familial relationship. Yet even Livia is not immune to love. The final play-within-a-play in Act 5, one of the goriest and most sensational conclusions to a Jacobean tragedy, is also (like the play as a whole) laced with dark humor. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)

Cast
Mother: Kristingj
Leantio: David Nicol
Bianca: Arielle Lipshaw
Guardiano: Noel Badrian
Fabritio: Martin Geeson
Livia: Elizabeth Klett
Hippolito: Alan Mapstone
Isabella: Amanda Friday
The Ward: Nathaniel W. C. Higgins
Sordido: mb
First Boy/First Lady/Hebe: April Gonzales
Second Boy/Second Lady/Narrator: Elizabeth Klett
Third Boy/Gentleman/Page/Lord: Robert Hoffman
Citizen/Servant/Hymen: Chuck Williamson
Apprentice/Messenger/Ganymede: Availle
Duke: Algy Pug
Lord Cardinal: Chuck Williamson
Audio edited by Elizabeth Klett

link to the free audiobook

Women Beware Women [by Thomas Middleton]

Vera; or the Nihilists [by Oscar Wilde]

Vera; or, The Nihilists is a play by Oscar Wilde. It is a melodramatic tragedy set in Russia and is loosely based on the story of Vera Zasulich. It was the first play that Wilde wrote. It was produced in the United Kingdom in 1880, and in New York in 1882, but it was not a success and folded in both cities. It is nowadays rarely revived.

Cast:
Peter Sabouroff/Baron Raff: Algy Pug
Vera Sabouroff: Arielle Lipshaw
Michael: Robin King
General Kotemkin: Alan Mapstone
Sergeant/Professor Marfa: Kristingj
Soldier/Aide-de-Camp: Grace
Prisoner/Colonel of the Guard: Amanda Friday
Dmitri/Page/President of the Nihilists: Elizabeth Klett
Alexis Ivanacievitch: Alex Lau
Conspirator/Marquis de Poivrard: Charlotte Duckett
Conspirator: Julia Niedermaier
Ivan the Czar: Martin Geeson
Prince Paul Maraloffski: John Trevithick
Prince Petrovitch: bala
Narrator: Availle
Audio edited by Arielle Lipshaw

link to the free audiobook

Vera; or the Nihilists [by Oscar Wilde]

The Verge [by Susan Glaspell]

This play is Glaspell’s recognition of the way in which Victorian society left some women feeling trapped in roles for which they were unsuited. Because of the play’s non-realistic speech patterns and expressionistic elements, it was dismissed by most critics as being muddled and confusing. It has recently been ‘‘rediscovered’’ by feminist theorists, however, who see the work as an important contribution to theatre history. In 1921 when this play was first produced, women were still expected to stay at home and be dutiful wives and mothers. Many women began to voice dissatisfaction with their lack of opportunities and tried to change the situation. Thus, the feminist movement began to take hold. Other women rebelled by retreating into despondency, depression and, sometimes, madness. The Verge also reflects the fascination with Freudian theory that was sweeping the United States at the time. Freud had delivered his first U.S. lectures in 1909, and his theories of psychoanalysis and dream interpretation were widely discussed in many popular publications of the day. 

Cast
Anthony: Algy Pug
Harry Archer: tovarisch
Hattie: Victoria P
Claire: Michele Eaton
Richard Demming: bala
Tom Edgeworthy: Chuck Williamson
Elizabeth: Elizabeth Klett
Adelaide: Amanda Friday
Dr. Emmons: Sarah Parshall
Narrator: Tricia G

link to the free audiobook

The Verge [by Susan Glaspell]

Earth Spirit [by Frank Wedekind]

Earth Spirit is a play by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It forms the first part of his pairing of 'Lulu' plays (the second is Pandora's Box [1904]), both of which depict a society "riven by the demands of lust and greed". Together with Pandora's Box, Wedekind's play formed the basis for the silent film Pandora's Box (1929) starring Louise Brooks and the opera Lulu by Alban Berg in 1935 (premiered posthumously in 1937). The eponymous "earth spirit" of this play is Lulu, who Wedekind described as a woman "created to stir up great disaster." Indeed, she is a purely sexual creature who scandalizes the community and drives men to ruin. The play has attracted a wide range of interpretations, from those who see it as misogynistic to those who claim Wedekind as a harbinger of women’s liberation.

Cast
Lulu: Amanda Friday
Dr. Schon: Algy Pug
Alva Schon: Chuck Williamson
Dr. Goll/Schigolch: Alan Mapstone
Schwartz: Aidan Brack
Prince Escerny/Ferdinand: bala
Escherich/Narrator/Prologue: Elizabeth Klett
Rodrigo: Wupperhippo
Hugenberg: Charlotte Duckett
Countess Geschwitz: Caprisha Page
Henriette: Naomi Park
Audio edited by Chuck Williamson and Elizabeth Klett

link to the free audiobook

Earth Spirit [by Frank Wedekind]

Widowers Houses [by George Bernard Shaw]

This is one of three plays Shaw published as Plays Unpleasant in 1898; they were termed "unpleasant" because they were intended, not to entertain their audiences—as traditional Victorian theatre was expected to—but to raise awareness of social problems and to censure exploitation of the laboring class by the unproductive rich. In this play, Dr. Harry Trench becomes disillusioned when he discovers how his fiancee's father, Mr. Sartorius, makes his money. However, it is soon revealed that Trench's own income is far from untainted.

Cast:
Dr. Harry Trench: engineerdst
Mr. William de Burgh Cokane: David Goldfarb
Mr. Sartorius: Drakaunus
Blanche Sartorius: Arielle Lipshaw
Mr. Lickcheese: Algy Pug
Waiter: bala
Porter: David Olson
Parlour Maid/Narrator: Elizabeth Klett
Audio edited by Arielle Lipshaw

link to the free audiobook
Widowers Houses [by George Bernard Shaw]