Twelfth Night
About this audiobook
As the generating force of its plot, Twelfth Night uses a device which has since become a staple in comedy: gender confusion. Viola and her twin brother Sebastian, are shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, a country ruled by the melancholy Duke Orsino. The twins are separated and Viola is led to believe that her brother has perished. She disguises herself as a male under the name of Cesario and makes her way to the ducal court, where Orsino employs her as a messenger, to communicate his love to the reclusive lady, Olivia—who is not willing to return his affection. Olivia is also the target of two other romantic schemes. Her pompous steward, Malvolio, has persuaded himself that Olivia has fallen for him but is too diffident to reveal her passion. Her dissipated uncle, Sir Toby Belch, has plans to set up a match for her with Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a feeble-minded squire. Viola/Cesario falls in love with Orsino and Olivia with Cesario, but all of the parties are obliged to hide their feelings. Having survived the shipwreck, Sebastian now appears on the scene and contracts a secret marriage with Olivia, who believes him to be Cesario. In the final act, Viola reveals her true identity ...
Featuring Emma Faye as Viola, Kendra Murray as Olivia, Cate Barratt as Sir Toby Belch, Alan Weyman as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Lillian Rachel as Malvolio, Marty Krz as Feste and Laura Richcreek as Orsino. Also featuring the voices of Claudia Anglade, Linda Barrans, PJ Morgan, Denis Daly and John Burlinson.
Songs arranged by Alan Weyman and Marty Krz
Audio edited by Denis Daly
Text kindly provided by playshakespeare.com
About the author
William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.
Emma Faye, a.k.a. "The Clean Reads Queen," is an audiobook narrator and actor with a passion for bringing stories to life. She specializes in YA, sweet romance, fantasy, inspiring nonfiction, and anything clean. She has twenty-plus years of acting experience and has voiced over thirty audiobooks. Recording in her professional home studio, Emma dives deep into the characters and stories to bring them to life in a fresh and captivating way. She puts her heart into every project and it comes across when you are listening to her audiobooks. Emma also runs a local community theater, moderates a support group for women going through betrayal trauma, and is a proud cat mom of four kitties.
Kendra Murray is an in-demand narrator with a background in film and stage acting.
After a career in communications and a life dabbling in theatre, Cate Barratt now spends her time narrating audiobooks—from mysteries to dramatic readings, from comedies to history books. These can be found on Audible, iTunes, Amazon, and more.
Lillian Rachel is a talented British voiceover artist who utilizes multiple accents in her work. She currently resides in Washington, D.C.
Marty Krz is an actor, musician, film maker, and audiobook narrator, located in Philadelphia, USA.
Linda Barrans is a British narrator with a fondness for Jane Austen and Shakespeare.
Denis Daly is an audiobook narrator and codirector of Voices of Today, an Australian spoken word production house.
John Burlinson is an American audiobook narrator.
Jennie Litt is a voice actor, singer, performer, author, playwright, director, cabaret performance coach, and lyricist. Her audiobook repertoire includes thriller, literary fiction, drama, comedy, and medical, and in 2021-22 she narrated in American, BBC British, south London, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, German, and Israeli accents. No stranger to the recording booth, she has recorded two full-length CDs of original cabaret songs with her husband, pianist/composer David Alpher: Two Apples (2014) and Songs For Sapiosexuals (2019). Her works for the theater have been performed at the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Circle Rep (NYC). She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, teenaged daughter, and dog.
