The Essential Shakespeare Live Encore

The Essential Shakespeare Live Encore is a new 2 CD set from British Library Publishing, produced in conjunction with Royal Shakespeare Company. It is a follow-up to the bestselling The Essential Shakespeare Live.

It features scenes and speeches from RSC productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, recorded by the British Library and the RSC over more than 50 years. All the recordings are published for the first time. The extracts were chosen by RSC Chief Associate Director Gregory Doran.

The roll-call of prestigious portrayals runs from Paul Robeson's legendary Othello in 1959 to David Tennant's Hamlet in 2008.

Among the other memorable productions are:

Peter Hall's Henry IV Part 1, Trevor Nunn's The Winter's Tale, John Barton's The Merchant of Venice, Adrian Noble's Macbeth, Sam Mendes's Troilus and Cressida and the recent Histories cycle of Michael Boyd.

With Ian Holm, David Suchet, Juliet Stevenson, Ian Richardson, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Russell Beale, Harriet Walter, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Also available...

The Essential Shakespeare Live

This CD set, released in 2005, also contains recordings of performances from Stratford and London, once again chosen by Gregory Doran.

The recordings cover a period of over four decades of exceptional Shakespeare performances, from Laurence Olivier as Coriolanus in 1959 to Judi Dench in All's Well that Ends Well in 2002. Here are some of the RSC's most celebrated productions – the now legendary Wars of the Roses from 1963, Peter Brook's King Lear with Paul Scofield and John Barton's Richard II with Richard Pasco and Ian Richardson. Others represented include Peggy Ashcroft, Alan Howard, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman, Anthony Sher, Donald Sinden, Robert Stephens, Patrick Stewart, Janet Suzman and David Warner.

‘From Peggy Ashcroft's chilling Queen Margaret, to the gorgeous cadences of Laurence Olivier's Coriolanus, [these are] some of the most remarkable performances from the Royal Shakespeare Company's illustrious history.' The Guardian

‘The track listings read like a roll-call of acting luminaries.' The Daily Telegraph