About this audiobook

Shakespeare’s history plays fall into two categories: political dramas and propagandistic pageants. The second category is comprised of the two plays in this presentation, Henry V and Henry VIII. These two plays have many elements in common. An underlying theme is the necessity and glory of government by sovereign royalty. Each play is presented by a chorus, who defines the action and intent of the drama. Rather than a continuous narrative the action is depicted in a series of tableaux, each of which seeks to illustrate a positive aspect of the monarch’s character. In each play an early part of the action involves the detection of treason and the punishment of the malefactors, presented as examples of the king’s shrewdness and rigorous sense of justice. Henry V, originally titled The Life of Henry the Fifth, tells the story of the king’s successful incursion into France to regain control of the territories claimed by the English crown, and his consolidation of his position by marrying the daughter of the King of France. Despite its references to the horror of military conflict, the mood of the play is generally bright and upbeat, although in the final speech the Chorus warns that much of this glory will be lost under the rule of Henry VI. Henry VIII, first published as The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth, was a joint production by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. It appears to have been written in 1612–1613. During a production of the play at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon was discharged, resulting in a fire which burned the building to the ground. The action of Henry VIII focuses on three major events: The allegation of treason against the Duke of Buckingham, and his subsequent conviction and execution; Henry’s concern over the failure of his wife Katharine of Aragon to produce a male heir, his desire to divorce her and to marry the much younger Anne Bullen (Boleyn); and the birth of Anne’s child, the future Queen Elizabeth I. All references to Anne Bullen’s fall from grace and execution and to Henry’s subsequent marriages are strictly avoided. Henry is presented as a thoughtful and capable sovereign, somewhat overbearing, but genuinely troubled by the thought that his marriage to Katharine may have been canonically improper. Featuring Blaise Doran as Henry V and Josh Innerst as Henry VIII. Audio edited by Denis Daly

Audiobook details

GenreOther, General Fiction

Length6 hrs 12 mins

Narrated bya full cast, P. J. Morgan, Laura E. Richcreek, Josh Innerst, Denis Daly, Alan Weyman, David Shears, Shane Emmett, Linda Barrans, Tim Dehn, Blaise Doran, Gregory Dwyer, Christopher Dukes, Geraint Pickard

FormatAudiobook

Publish dateApr 15, 2025

LanguageEnglish

About the author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time and Shakespeare was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.View all by William Shakespeare