Tragedy
King Lear
King Lear is widely held as the greatest of Shakespeare's tragedies; to some, it is the greatest play ever written. King Lear abdicates the …
The Return of the Native
Like all of Hardy's work, The Return of the Native (1878) is passionate and controversial, with themes and sympathies beyond what a good Vic…
The Winter's Tale
Mad with jealousy, King Leontes of Sicilia orders his best friend Polixenes killed, his child abandoned, and his wife put on trial for adult…
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed…
Medea
Euripides' tragedy focuses on the disintegration of the relationship between Jason, the hero who captured the Golden Fleece, and Medea, the …
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya (subtitled “Scenes From Country Life”) is a tragicomedy by Anton Chekhov. It is set on the failing country estate of a retired p…
Futility, Or the Wreck of the Titan
This novel was published a full 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic, but listeners may be surprised at how many parallels this fictio…
Wuthering Heights
The story centers on the all-encompassing, passionate, but ultimately doomed love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and how this un…
The Tragedy of King Richard II
Billed by scholars as the first part of the all-encompassing Henriad, Richard II is a richly satisfying probe into the inner workings of mon…
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is a powerful tragedy by Euripides that delves into the conflict between reason and instinct, order and chaos. Set in Thebes, th…
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Tess of the d'Urbervilles subtitled, "A Pure Woman," is the story of a young working woman named Tess Durbeyfield who is sent by h…
The Jew of Malta
Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. T…
Ajax
Ajax is a Greek tragedy written in the 5th century BC. The date of Ajax's first performance is unknown and may never be found, but most scho…
A Fair Mystery
(Written by Charlotte M. Brame under the pen name Bertha M. Clay.)Honest Mark Brace is about to lose his farm, land of his ancestors, home t…
Oedipus at Colonus
This is the second installment in Sophocles's Theban Plays that chronicles the tragic fates of Oedipus and his family. After fulfilling the…
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, based on true events, concerns the conspiracy against Julius Caesar, his assassination i…
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
One of the most shocking plays produced in England during the reign of Charles I, 'Tis Pity She's A Whore chronicles the disastrous results …
Oedipus Rex
"Oedipus Rex" (Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, Oidipous Tyrannos), also known as "Oedipus the King" or "Oedipus t…
L'Assommoir
Émile François Zola (French pronunciation: [emil zɔˈla]) (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French writer, …
Samson Agonistes
“The Sun to me is darkAnd silent as the Moon,When she deserts the nightHid in her vacant interlunar cave.”Milton composes his last extended …