Showing results by narrator "Alan Weyman" in All Categories

Calidore is a fragment of an unfinished romance and may be considered unique among Peacock's work. Composition probably commenced after the publication of Peacock's largest novel, Melincourt, in 1817. The action concerns the adventures of a young man, Calidore, who finds himself in Wales, en route to London in search of "a wife and a philosopher".

The Life and Death of King John was probably written in the 1590s but not published until the First Folio in 1623. Of Shakespeare's 11 history plays, King John is the one which deals with the story of a monarch most removed from Shakespeare's time. The historical remoteness of this ruler, and also the fact that he had no genealogical links with the Tudor dynasty, enabled Shakespeare to present him in a warts and allà fashion.

Harrison, an embittered scientist who has access to time travel, wants to remove Christmas from the pages of history. Fortunately for humanity, his senior colleague, Horowitz has other ideas.

When Lord Arthur learns of his awful destiny, how will he deal with the consequences? As this is Wilde, it's not what you might expect.

As the generating force of its plot, Twelfth Night uses a device which has since become a staple in comedy: gender confusion. Viola and her twin brother Sebastian, are shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, a country ruled by the melancholy Duke Orsino. The twins are separated and Viola is led to believe that her brother has perished. She disguises herself as a male under the name of Cesario and makes her way to the ducal court, where Orsino employs her as a messenger, to communicate his love to the reclusive lady, Olivia—who is not willing to return his affection.

Rosamond Frankland has married the love of her life, Leonard, who is blind. They have bought Porthgenna Tower, the manor where Rosamond grew up and where her mother died 20 years earlier. What they don't know is the dark secret that hovers over her family, that house, and the stories about a woman's ghost that haunts the north rooms. Is this a ghost story, a love story, a story with a tragic ending, or a lovely one?

A man was hanged in Reading Gaol during Wilde's imprisonment there. In "The Ballad", written after his release, he tells of the horror of the event and its effect on himself and his fellow prisoners. First published 1898, under the pseudonym C.3.3 - the number by which Wilde was known in the prison, consisting of the cell block, landing number and cell number of his cell.

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling's delightful collection of imaginative tales about natural history has captivated children and adults alike since its publication in 1902. Here stories are presented in dramatic format by members of The Online Stage. Stories include:"How the Whale Got His Throat", "How the Camel Got His Hump", "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin", "How the Leopard Got His Spots", "The Elephant's Child", "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo", and more.

What is the significance of what Henry Ian Darling found in the boot of a car? And how did his wife know of the event? How could anyone be cruel enough to do such a thing? Find out where the discovery leads this collector of oddities and what it may mean for Henry's ultimate quest - finding the enigma, which will save or destroy all dimensions.

Dreams come and go but their impressions last forever. So I had no choice but to set down these words. No titles, no conformity. Just the feelings left by those very dreams.

Henry Ian Darling is a collector of oddities, those that bring him closer to an enigma, one he hopes will be a great thing. But maybe it isn't?

This play is the sequel to "Earth Spirit", in which the adventurous and manipulative Lulu marries and rids herself of three husbands, only to be arrested for the murder of the third. In "Pandora’s Box", Lulu escapes from prison only to be forced in the life of a courtesan. Reduced to desperate poverty, she meets her end at the hands of murderous customer in London. In Wedekind’s sordid morality tale, all Lulu’s main associates suffer premature and unnatural deaths, except for the degenerate Schigolch, who is one of the most unpleasant characters in the European drama.

Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) was the most controversial dramatist of his age. Most of his work focuses on the ubiquity and inevitably corrupting influence of sexual attraction. His most famous plays are the two that depict the rise, fall, and eventual gruesome death of the vampish Lulu, who, in Wedekind’s presentation, became a ghastly parody of Goethe’s “Eternal Feminine”. The first of the plays is Earth Spirit, in which Lulu marries and survives three husbands, only to face prosecution for the shooting of the third.

This beautiful collection contains five fairy tales by the celebrated British writer Oscar Wilde: "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket." These timeless tales are performed by a full cast, and will delight listeners of all ages with their whimsical characters, moving situations, and touches of ironic humor. Presented by The Online Stage.

The Swedish playwright August Strindberg was one of the founding fathers of naturalistic theater. A feature of many of his plays is the minute dissection of attitude and motivation by individuals within tightly bound groups. As in the present drama, such relentless inspection of behavior often has drastic consequences. Thekla, married to the needy Adolf, has a surprise encounter with her former husband, the lordly Gustav. Or is it really a surprise?

A party of friends exchange ghost stories on Christmas Eve; but everything may not be quite as it seems....

Tombstones is a collection of some of the finest dark verse and horror-themed literature while exploring the various elements of dreams, erotica, and psychology and visualizing complete fear and terror...including the popular dark verse "The Fallen Angel", the powerfully erotic vampire tale "Blood Hungry", and a journey into the mind of the "Wicked Torturer".

Much Ado About Nothing appears to have been written about 1599, shortly before As You Like It and Twelfth Night. The action combines two narrative threads: the spirited comedy of the courtship of Benedick and Beatrice, and the somber tale of confused love between Hero and Claudio. The first is a creation by Shakespeare and the second appears to have been drawn from an Italian source, either by Bandello or Ariosto. The action takes place in Messina. Eponymous lovers Hero and Claudio seem to be ideally matched and nearly everyone is looking forward to their impending marriage.

Socrates, perhaps the most famous philosopher of the ancient world, left no writings. The method of philosophical investigation for which he is celebrated has come down to us in the form of dialogues, composed by his student, Plato. The four dialogues in this collection are known by the names of the chief characters in each: Lysis, Charmides, Laches, and Euthyphro. As they fall into a more or less natural group due to the fact that each one deals with a single ethical abstract—friendship, temperance, courage, and piety, respectively—they have been renamed based on their subjects.

The focus in Melincourt is the operation of the "rotten borough" which corrupted the English electoral system until the reform bill of 1832. A rotten borough was a constituency that had been established by royal prerogative but had subsequently lost most of its population. Nevertheless, it still retained the right to have two representatives in the House of Commons. On the other hand, many population centers which had expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution were not entitled to any electoral representation.