The Duke of Gandia

A Poetic Drama

By Algernon Charles Swinburne

Presented by Voices of Today

Cesare Borgia is consumed by personal ambition. Not satisfied with the elevated rank of a cardinal, he asked the Pope – his father – for dispensation from his clerical vows so that he may be proclaimed Duke, and eventually become the de facto ruler of Italy. The Pope grants his request, but one obstacle still remains – Cesare is not the first born son. Will he let this accident of birth stand in his way?

Cast

POPE ALEXANDER VI - Ron Altman

FRANCESCO BORGIA - Mark Crowle-Groves

CESARE BORGIA - Tomas Peter

DON MICHELE COREGLIA (or MICHELOTTO) - Alan Weyman

GIORGIO SCHIAVONE - Jeff Moon

FIRST ASSASSIN - Ted Wenskus

OFFICER OF THE PAPAL HOUSEHOLD - Ted Wenskus

SECOND ASSASSIN - Marty Krz

VANNOZZA CATANEI - Linda Barrans

LUCREZIA BORGIA - Eva Davis

Stage directions read by Denis Daly

Audio edited by Denis Daly

For further information about Voices of Today or to explore its catalogue please visit:

http://www.voicesoftoday.org/

The complete recording can be purchased at Audible.com:

https://tinyurl.com/y8g5go77

Celebrated Crimes, Volume 5

by Alexandre Dumas.

Narrated by Cate Barratt.

The prolific Alexandre Dumas, père, first published his famous eight-volume crime series in Paris in 1839-40. It contained 18 stories, which, as the author notes in the introduction, had “the added value of giving the modern reader a clear picture of the state of semi-lawlessness which existed in Europe, during the middle ages.”

In Volume 5, Dumas relates the lengths to which Antoine Derues will go in his pursuit of money, and the consequences of the dark works of Marie Leroux and her partner Claude Perregaud.

The Raven Edition of the Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Volume Five: Poetry and Drama

Narrated by Bob Gonzalez, Jennifer Fournier, Cate Barratt, and Denis Daly.

The Raven Edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849) presents his complete literary output in five volumes.

In addition to eleven prose pieces, volume five contains all of Poe’s verse and also his only play, the unfinished drama, "Politian". Poe’s poetic output consists of 54 pieces, most of them short, but it also includes four longer pieces, The Bells, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and perhaps Poe’s most iconic poem, The Raven.

The first installment of "Politian" was published in 1835, but, due to discouraging reviews, Poe decided not to complete the play. The plot is based on the Kentucky Incident of 1825, in which Solomon Sharp, attorney general of Kentucky, was assassinated by Jereboam Beauchamp, who accused Sharp of being the father of an illegitimate child borne some years before by Beauchamp’s wife, Anna Cooke. Beauchamp was later hanged and Cooke died as the result of a suicide attempt. Poe transferred the setting to 16th-century Rome and made Politian an aristocrat, rather than an elected official.

Love’s Widowhood

By Alfred Austin

Narrated by Leanne Yau and Denis Daly

Alfred Austin (1835 -1913) was a lawyer, journalist, newspaper editor, novelist and active representative of the Conservative party, but is best remembered today as the English Poet Laureate who succeeded Alfred Lord Tennyson. He is considered one of the least distinguished poets to have held that position, and his verse often became the subject of ridicule, especially in his later years when its coy Victorian romanticism appeared limp and jaded in comparison to the work of his greater contemporaries like Swinburne. Austin did not help his own cause by his attacks on other and more celebrated poets of his generation.

Austin’s appointment to the Poet Laureateship was widely considered as a reward for his services to the Conservative Party, and negatively affected the esteem in which the post had been held.

Austin was a prolific writer and his output includes nineteen collections of poetry. Among these is Love’s Widowhood and other poems, first published in 1889. The opening poem is a tender meditation on the grief of a woman who has lost a child. Although the verbiage is rather dated, the writing is capable and free from the infelicities which marred some of Austin’s more famous poems.

Audio edited by Denis Daly

Music

Excerpts from Symphony number 4, by Felix Mendelssohn

Second movement - Andante con moto

Performed by the Musopen Symphony Orchestra

This recording may be freely downloaded and distributed, as long as Voices of Today is credited as the author. It may not be used for commercial purposes or distributed in an edited or remixed form.

For further information about Voices of Today or to explore its catalogue please visit:

http://www.voicesoftoday.org/

The complete recording can be purchased at Audible.com:

https://tinyurl.com/y9plt6w9

The Bronte Sisters: A Collection of Poems

While the novels of the Bronte sisters are much beloved, their beautiful works of poetry often go unnoticed. This collection contains all their poetical works, pieced together by Charlotte, who provides illuminating commentary on her dear sisters' words. The collection was first published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

Featuring

Elizabeth Klett as Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell)

Eva Davis as Emily Bronte (Ellis Bell)

Amanda Friday as Anne Bronte (Acton Bell)

Audio edited by Amanda Friday

Pandora’s Box

A Tragedy in Three Acts

By Frank Wedekind

Play translated by Samuel A. Eliot Jnr

Prologue translated by Leanne Yau and Alan Weyman and rendered into verse by Charlotte Duckett.

Presented by The Online Stage

This play is the sequel to Earth Spirit, in which the adventurous and manipulative Lulu marries and rids herself of three husband, only to be arrested for the murder of the third. In Pandora’s Box, Lulu escapes from prison only to be forced in the life of a courtesan . Reduced to desperate poverty, she meets her end at the hands of murderous customer in London.

In Wedekind’s sordid morality tale, all Lulu’s main associates suffer premature and unnatural deaths, excepting the degenerate Schigolch, who is one of the most unpleasant characters in European drama. In Wedekind's dark world, virtue is a practical improbability and vice, although often punished, continues to thrive.

In the prologue, which has been specially translated for this production, Wedekind pillories the forces of censorship and critical approval, against which he contended almost continuously throughout his writing career.

Cast

Prologue

The Enterprising Publisher - John Burlinson

The Ordinary Reader - K.G.Cross

The Bashful Author - Joseph Tabler

The Attorney General - Alan Weyman

Play

Rodrigo Quast - Ron Altman

Lulu - Charlotte Duckett

Countess Geschwitz - Leanne Yau

Schigolch - Marty Kryz

Alva Schön - Brett Downey

Count Casti Piani - John Burlinson

Detective and Jack - Garrison Moore

Heilmann and Dr. Hilti – JosephTabler

Puntschu and Kungu Poti - Alan Weyman

Alfred Hugenberg and Kadidia - Chyanne Donnell

Bianetta and Magelone - K.G.Cross

Ludmilla Steinherz and Bob - P.J. Morgan

Stage directions read by Denis Daly

Audio edited by Denis Daly

Copyright for the verse version of the Prologue is held by Charlotte Duckett.

The complete recording can be purchased at Audible.com:

https://tinyurl.com/y9ma43e5

Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven Edition

Volume Four

Narrated by Cate Barratt and Denis Daly.

The Raven Edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849) presents his complete literary output in five volumes.

Although best known for his works of macabre fiction, Poe also had a deep interest in scientific discovery and speculative philosophy. This volume contains stories about wild and wonderful experiments and other objects of public curiosity, and essays about language and thought.

Contents:

1. The Devil in the Belfry

2. Lionizing

3. X-ing a Paragraph

4. Metzengerstein

5. The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether

6. How to Write a Blackwood Article

7. A Predicament

8. Mystification

9. Diddling

10. The Angel of the Odd

11. Mellonta Tauta

12. The Duc de L'omelette

13. The Oblong Box

14. Loss of Breath

15. The Man that was Used Up

16. The Business Man

17. The Landscape Garden

18. Maelzel's Chess Player

19. The power of Words

20. The Colloquy of Monos and Unas

21. The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion

22. Shadow, A Parable

Audio edited by Cate Barratt

The complete recording may be purchased at Audible.com:

https://tinyurl.com/yaudmxcc

Celebrated Crimes

Volume Eight

by Alexandre Dumas pere

Narrated by Jeff Moon

In his eighth and final volume of his compilation of the most notorious deeds in European history at his point in time, Alexandre Dumas tells the story of three femmes fatales and the deaths that followed in their wake. The Marquise de Brinvilliers was a serial poisoner, Vaninka, an arsonist, and although the Marquise de Ganges did no killing herself, her beauty and desirability caused others to kill for her.

A play in one act

by Susan Glaspell

Presented by The Online Stage

John Wright has been found dead in his bed, with a rope around his neck. His widow admits that she was sleeping in the same bed, but claims to have slept through the whole incident. Will the canny county attorney be able to work out what really happened?

Cast

George Henderson, the County Attorney - Andy Harrington

Lewis Hale - Joseph Tabler

Sheriff Henry Peters - Larry Wilson

Mrs Peters - Michelle Marie Jeanmard

Mrs Hale - Lee Ann Howlett

Stage directions read by Marie Hoffman

Audio edited by Denis Daly

Cover image designed by Sarah Backholer

This recording may be freely downloaded and distributed, as long as the Online Stage is credited as the author. It may not be used for commercial purposes or distributed in an edited or remixed form.

The Online Stage is a collective of actors and narrators who have come together to present high quality recordings of classic drama in audio format. For further information or to view our catalogue please visit onlinestage.org

The complete recording can be purchased at Audible.com:

https://tinyurl.com/ydfyxzrp

Within You is the Power

by Henry Thomas Hamblin

Narrated by Denis Daly

Among New Thought authors, Henry Thomas Hamblin particularly emphasized in his writings the power and necessity of dynamic and judicious thought.

Since his death in 1958, his work has been continued by The Hamblin Trust whose mission is described as "enriching people's lives through Right Thinking."

In the preface to Within You is the Power , the author says:

The object of this little book is to help men and women to bring their inward powers of mind and spirit into expression, wisely and in harmony with universal law; to build up character, and to find within themselves that wondrous Self, which is their real self, and which, when found, reveals to them that they are literally and truly sons of God and daughters of the Most High.