Coriolanus: Argo Classics

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present Argo Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world's most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.Let me twineMine arms about that body, where againstMy grained ash an hundred times hath brokeAnd scarr'd the moon with splinters.Coriolanus is a tragedy based on the life of legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus.Roman General Coriolanus makes his name defeating an enemy army and defending Rome. The Senate nominates him as consul, but he cannot win the people's vote, so he is banished from Rome and allies with his old enemy. He comes to attack Rome, his mother persuades him not to and his new-found ally kills him for the betrayal.All of the Shakespeare plays within the Argo Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.Thurston Dart, professor of music at London University and a fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production.The full cast includes: Anthony White, John Arnott, Donald Beves, Tony Church, Anthony Jacobs, John Wilders, John Barton, Peter Woodthorpe, Irene Worth, Dorothy Mulcahy, Christine Baker.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time, and Shakespeare was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.