Pierre Arthur Laure

Rome is a city divided, nobility and common people locked in mutual suspicion. The patrician Caius Marcius, later called Coriolanus, is Rome’s greatest soldier, but his proud refusal to accommodate himself to the demands of the plebeians leads to...

This strange, dark romance includes two songs composed by Shakespeare that are amongst the most beautiful in the English language.Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline, is persecuted by her wicked stepmother, the Queen, and by Cloten, the Queen’s...

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...

Prince Hal parts from his past to fulfill his royal destiny, in this essential conclusion to Henry IV, Part 1.Rebellion still simmers in England and King Henry's health is failing. Prince Hal has proved his courage but the king still fears that his...

Henry V is a study of kingship, patriotism, and heroic determination tempered by tender comedy as Henry courts Katherine, princess of France.Henry, the noble and courageous young king of England, decides to invade France, believing he has a rightful...

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...

Rife with intrigue and treachery, this history play depicts the onset of the fifteenth-century Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York.Young King Henry VI has married the beautiful Margaret of Anjou, but the new queen is ruthless...

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...

A play replete with puns and double-entendres, this is one of Shakespeare’s earliest and most lighthearted.The young king of Navarre and three of his courtiers have vowed to lock themselves away for three years of study and fasting, and to forswear...

Sinister supernatural forces are at work in this fast-paced tragedy of guilt and retribution, in which the power of human beings to control their own destiny is called into question.The brave warrior Macbeth allows himself to be persuaded by Lady...

Young Claudio has fallen for the lovely heiress Hero, who also loves him. Their path to the altar looks smooth, until the evil Don John intervenes.All ends happily, thanks to his incompetent assassins and the lucky discoveries of the bungling...

This great tragedy confronts the mystery at the heart of evil and contains some of Shakespeare's most magnificent dramatic verse.Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, has married Desdemona, beautiful daughter of a Venetian senator. But...

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...

King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden and terrible jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing was fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born he orders her to be...

The noble Titus returns victorious to Rome, bringing Tamora, queen of the Goths, as his captive. When one of Tamora's sons is condemned to die, she vows revenge, and, aided by the villainous Aaron, she exacts a terrible retribution, inaugurating a...

Lust poses as love and ambition as patriotism in this dark and brilliant play depicting the heroic action of the Trojan War.Troy is besieged by the invading Greeks, but the young Trojan prince Troilus can think only of his love for Cressida. Her uncle...

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...