List $19.95

Written by William Shakespeare - Dramatized Unabridged Fiction - 2 COMPACT DISCS - 2 hours, 17 minutes - Music composed by Dominique Le Gendre

Publisher, Audio Partners (May 2005)

Featured performers: Roy Hudd, Amanda Root, Saskia Wickham, Rupert Penry-Jones, Clarence Smith, Richard McCabe, David Harewood, Adjoa Andoh

Listen to a Windows Media audio clip.

Royalty, lovers, fools, fairies, and actors converge in the forest in one enchanted night of beauty, dreams, and romance. A wonderful comedy that convinces us of the magic of darkness and shadows. "Oh, what fools these mortals be!"

Shakespeare's most imaginative and merry play is set in an enchanted wood amidst fairies and sprites.

When Oberon, King of the Fairies, uses his magic upon four runaway lovers in a midsummer wood outside Athens, chaos ensues. Who really loves whom? Meanwhile, a band of well-meaning but bungling local actors have their rehearsal sabotaged by the mischievous Puck, who bewitches their leader, Bottom, and Titania, the Fairy Queen. The result is a lively and anarchic comedy, which can only be resolved by an elaborate disentangling of spells.

Hermia is played by Amanda Root, Oberon by David Harewood, and Bottom by Roy Hudd.

About the Creative Director Clive Brill graduated from Oxford University and then joined the BBC where he worked for 12 years as director, producer, and commissioning editor. In 1996, he left the BBC to develop and direct the Arkangel Shakespeare project. He directed all 38 plays, which star many of today's finest actors. He is a co-director of Pacificus Productions in London, which produces drama across all media.

The Arkangel Complete Shakespeare is one of the most ambitious undertakings in recent recording history. All thirty-eight of Shakespeare's plays, uncut, fully-dramatized and accompanied by original music, are brought to life by the voices of many of the most distinguished actors presently performing in British Film and Theatre.