Ian McKellen discusses playing Macbeth, in this ebook taken from Shakespeare On Stage: Thirteen Leading Actors on Thirteen Key Roles.In each volume of the Shakespeare On Stage series, a leading actor takes us behind the scenes, recreating in detail a memorable performance in one of Shakespeare's major roles. They discuss their character, working through the play scene by scene, with refreshing candour and in forensic detail. The result is a masterclass on playing ...

Ian McKellen discusses playing King Lear, in this ebook taken from Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 - Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles.In each volume of the Shakespeare On Stage series, a leading actor takes us behind the scenes of a landmark Shakespearean production, recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role. They lead us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character works in performance, shedding new light on som...

"It will not disappoint . . ." —Ian McKellen, from the ForewordAn Authoritative Training Manual for Film Actors and Teachers“In today's entertainment industry of buff bodies and beautiful faces, it's easy to think that a couple of sit-ups and high cheek bones can create a movie legend,” writes film veteran Cathy Haase. However, she adds, what the actor really must have are “technique, craft, and a depth of self-knowledge.” In Acting for...

A memoir from the writer of BENT with a foreword by Ian McKellenSherman takes us on a journey through America in the mid twentieth century, starting in New Jersey – where he was born in the 1930s to a Jewish immigrant family – ending on Broadway with the premier of his seminal play Bent starring Richard Gere. On route, we encounter other famous performers including Meryl Streep, Bee Gees, Joan Baez, but the scene-stealing character is always his father – a charismatic narcissist wh...

‘One of the best anthologies of the year… An arresting, deeply moving collection of the best of British poetry read by a star-studded cast’ The Independent. This exceptional anthology, based on Lord Owen’s published anthology Seven Ages Poetry for a Lifetime, features many of Britain’s leading actors who have all given their services for charity. Shakespeare’s ‘seven ages’ speech (read by Sir Ian McKellen) punctuates the programme which contains 150 poems read by forty actors. Michael Cain...

From our most celebrated writer of the psychological thriller comes this nerve-wracking yet eerily beautiful work of erotic obsession and madness.In the summer of 1959, Stella Raphael joins her psychiatrist husband, Max, at his new posting—a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. Beautiful and headstrong, Stella soon falls under the spell of Edgar Stark, a brilliant and magnetic sculptor who has been confined to the hospital for murdering his wife in a psychotic rage....

**The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert FaglesSoon to be a major motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan**Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven ...

Sir Ian McKellen stars as Milton in this dramatised retelling of John Milton’s epic poem about the fall of Man"devilishly good... I urge you to give it a listen" The TelegraphMilton’s biblical masterpiece, first published in 1667, is one of English literature’s most seminal works. Straddling three worlds – Heaven, Hell and Earth – it tells the gripping story of fallen angel Satan’s rebellion against God, his temptation of Adam and Eve and their sub...

Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play. The wronged duke raises a tempest to shipwreck his old opponents on his island so that he can ensure justice is done. With Emilia Fox as Miranda, Scott Handy in the pivotal role of the sprite Ariel and Ben Owukwe as Caliban, this new production directed by John Tydeman, balances the magic and the earthiness with music playing a key role.

Three powerful radio productions from the BBC archives starring Ian McKellen, Ronald Pickup and Paul Scofield and a host of celebrated acting talent . These three legendary plays, performed by some of the best-known theatrical actors of the 20th Century, are the perfect way to commemorate England's greatest dramatist.Romeo and Juliet: The Montagues and the Capulets are sworn enemies, so when Romeo Montague falls in love with Juliet Capulet, tragedy ensues. This fateful tale of two ...

Riveting radio dramatisations of Charles Dickens' fifteen full-length novels.Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned authors of all time, and this digital volume of the dramatised canon of his work includes fifteen of his most popular novels.This collection includes the episodic adventure Nicholas Nickleby, comic tale The Pickwick Papers, poignant melodrama The Old Curiosity Shop, the much-loved Oliver Twist. Plus, th...

A boy. A wolf. The legend lives on. In the Dark Time of midwinter, something is coming that will test the Clans as never before. Book eight of Michelle Paver's bestselling Wolf Brother series continues the dazzling adventure of Torak, Wolf and Renn - a story full of myth, menace, natural magic and exhilarating entertainment.In the Dark Time of midwinter, disaster strikes the Forest. Chaos rules. Bears woken from their dens prowl the shadowy valleys. Desperate clans battle for survi...