King Henry is married to Catherine of Aragon, but he has been smitten by the charms of the queen's maid of honor, Anne Boleyn, and is tempted to divorce his dignified and noble wife.Meanwhile, the lords of England resent the influence of Henry's trusted advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, who is gradually drawing power into his own hands. As Catherine and Wolsey suffer their tragic falls, new figures rise to fill their places, but they, too, will be brought low by the inexorable sweep of tim...

King John of England is pitted against the united powers of France, Brittany, Austria, and the papacy. Will England be destroyed by his fatal indecision?As alliances are made, broken, and remade, the paranoid and erratic John reveals his weakness and reliance on those around him—including his powerful mother Queen Elinor and Faulconbridge, the cynical and witty bastard son of the dead King Richard I.In this early history play, King John is played by Michael Feast, the Basta...

Hell hath no fury like a Horseman scorned.They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. For Lazarus Kerrigan, that couldn't be further from the truth. He's got no intention of playing nice once he gets there, not with Emma's soul on the line.To free her, he'll have to travel through not one Hell, but seven, cutting deals with ghosts, Titans, and gods who would rather crush the Pale Horseman than help him.Opening that many doors to the und...

Shakespeare’s most sophisticated comedy is a riotous tale of hopelessly unrequited passions and mistaken identity.Duke Orsino is in love with the noblewoman Olivia. She, however, has fallen for his servant Cesario, who is actually Viola, a woman disguised as a man, who loves Orsino: confusion is rife. Meanwhile, Olivia’s arrogant steward Malvolio is cruelly tricked by her uncle Sir Toby Belch, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and the maidservant Maria into believin...

A psychic assassin. A demonic presence. Survival has deadly consequences . . .After escaping an asylum, Felix drives across three states in search of bloody vengeance. When he arrives, however, he is instead roped into a plot to apprehend a psychic assassin murdering clergy. If he succeeds, Bishop X has promised to write him a blank check. If he fails, death will be the least of his worries.The assassin, however, is more cunning and deadly than even Felix C...

Shakespeare’s finest verse play is also his first portrait of the psychology of power.The sensitive and poetic Richard II is undoubtedly the rightful king of England, but he is unscrupulous and weak. When his cousin Henry Bolingbroke returns from banishment and mounts a challenge to his authority, Richard’s right to the throne proves of little help to him. Richard is forced to abdicate, but as his power is stripped away, he gains dignity and self-awareness, and he ...

This play introduces Shakespeare’s greatest comedic character, the dissolute knight Sir John Falstaff.While King Henry’s England is threatened by rebellion, the king’s scapegrace son Hal haunts the taverns of London, his companions a crew of rogues and thieves let by Falstaff. The earl of Northumberland and his fiery son Hotspur scheme to overthrow the crown. Can Hal be brought to a sense of duty as Prince of Wales? Or will the influence of Falstaff prove too stron...

Proteus loves Julia in Verona, Valentine loves Silvia in Milan. But when Proteus meets Silvia, he falls for her too, and the heartbroken Julia sets out in pursuit.This delightful and sometimes disquieting early comedy of love lost and found offers lyrical poetry, disguise, clowning, outlaws, and a most unreliable dog.Proteus is played by Michael Maloney and Valentine by Damian Lewis. Silvia is Saskia Wickham, Julia is Lucy Robinson, and John Woodvine plays Launce.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, undergoes a tyrant's fury, storm, and shipwreck. He wins love and suffers loss, but what is lost may also be found.With the ancient poet Gower acting as narrator, we follow the adventures of Pericles from young manhood to maturity. This strange and powerful tale of loss and recovery is the first in the group of romance comedies created by Shakespeare at the end of his dramatic career.Sir John Gielgud plays Gower, and Nigel Terry is Pericles. Thaisa...

Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world, has become the thrall of the fascinating Cleopatra.Affairs of state call Mark Antony to Rome, but the attractions of the queen of Egypt prove impossible to resist. From one of history’s greatest love stories Shakespeare builds this magnificent tragedy of the clash between love and duty.Cleopatra is played by Estelle Kohler, Mark Antony by Ciaran Hinds, Ian Hughes is Octavius Caesar, and David Burke is...

His salvation rests in exorcising the demons of her past.Felix Cross is no stranger to demons. He's traveled the globe, studying under the world's most foremost demonologists and exorcists with one goal: open a door to Hell to retrieve the soul of an innocent man.After he's hired to perform an exorcism on Raina Hemlock, a Kentucky senator's daughter, Felix may have found what he needs. The possessed girl claims to have been to Hell and back . . . literally....

The monstrous power of one of Shakespeare's most memorable characters, Richard Plantagenet, emerges in Henry VI, Part 3, a portent of things to come.The Yorkists have been temporarily victorious and the Duke of York has assumed the throne, but the Lancastrians, led by Queen Margaret, counter-attack. As the fortunes of war shift, both the innocent and the guilty are swept up in the maelstrom. And increasingly dominant amid the chaos is the sinister figure of the crook-backe...