A tale of two lovers, read just for you (Romeo and Juliet (Audio CD))

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Romeo and Juliet (Audio CD)
Date:	12/05/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great story

Disadvantages: none

There are a few things you have to think about when it comes to audiobooks. Number one: are they unabridged (meaning have they kept the full text in), and this one has. Number two: do they base it on a decent version of the text? In this case, the audiobook is based on the New Cambridge Shakespeare text, which is one of the best.

With that in mind, here we have a dramatic reading of the play, starring such modern blockbuster heroes as Kate Bekinsale as Juliet. The main cast are as follows:

Romeo: Michael Sheen
Juliet - Kate Beckinsale
Capulet - David Bradley
Lady Capulet - Frances Barber
Montague - Edward de Souza
Lady Montague - Judy Loe
Nurse - Fiona Shaw
Friar Lawrence - Heathcote Williams
Mercutio - Anton Lesser
Tybalt - Jasper Britton
Paris - Ronan Vibert
Benvolio - Simon Harris

Lasting three hours, it's not for the faint-hearted, but the cast do a very dramatic job with their tone and volume of voice, keeping you easily entertained for the duration.

The play begins with a prologue. In the form of a sonnet, the prologue is a short poem which basically tells the audience a summary of the whole plot. It's like a trailer for a movie, but a bad one! Why on earth did they give away the whole plot? Because many of the audience were not educated enough to follow the whole thing along, and the prologue was an 'idiots' guide' to the play they were about to see.

Romeo and Juliet tells the tale of two young lovers. Each belonging to rival families, their love was never going to be easy. Despite all this, they try, marrying in secret and enjoying but a brief moment of wedded bliss before Romeo ruins it all and kills Juliet's cousin (never a good move). Banished for his crime, Romeo is not around to save Juliet from her father's wrath, as she is propelled into an arranged marriage that she cannot take (her marriage to Romeo being a secret). At this point, the helpful Friar comes up with a plan of how to make everything better; it involves poision, deception and cunning. I'll leave it at that in case you're one of the few people who don't know the rest.

An excellent tale, full of love and conflict, showing us that you simply cannot have one without the other.

Summary: great story