Last Updated 
5 April, 2004
 
Home
Biography
Theatre
Television/Films
Radio
Interviews/Articles
News/Updates
Drawings
Roger Goodies
Links/Webrings
 
 
Created by Linda
TMAW

Roger Goodies


In Association with Amazon.co.uk You can buy any of these books or audio cassettes by clicking on the links below.  The purchases are through Amazon.co.uk and are at very reasonable prices.

Measure for Measure
William Shakespeare
Penguin Audiobooks
Audio Cassette - 27 May, 1999

Synopsis
While temporarily governing Vienna, Angelo sentences Claudio to death for making his betrothed Julietta pregnant. When Claudio's sister Isabella - a novice nun - begs for his release, the seemingly virtuous Angelo offers to spare his life only if Isabella will consent to be his mistress.


Typhoon
Joseph Conrad
Audio Partners
Audio Cassette - 13 September, 2000
Narration by Roger Allam

Synopsis
The unimaginative and imperturbable Captain MacWhirr pilots his steamer Nan-Shan through a typhoon of such violence that even he is moved to doubt the possibility of survival. To avoid trouble between decks, he sends his appalled chief mate Mr. Jukes down to confiscate the money of his 200 Chinese passengers. After the ship is safe and the money redistributed, Jukes concludes that MacWhirr "got out of it very well for a stupid man." In fact, the story is a deep affirmation of conservative virtues.


Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare
Penguin Audiobooks
Audio Cassette - 26 November, 1998

Synopsis
Padua holds many suitors for the hand of fair Bianca, but Bianca may not be married until her spitfire sister Kate is wed. Could any man be rash enough to take Kate on? The witty adventurer Petruchio undertakes the task and sets about transforming Kate from foul-tempered termagrant to loving wife.


 

Players of Shakespeare 2
Russell Jackson (Editor), Robert Smallwood (Editor)
Cambridge University Press
Paperback - October 1989

 
Synopsis
This is the second volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company. 14 actors describe the Shakespearean roles they played in productions between 1982 and 1987. The contributors are Roger Allam, Frances Barber, Kenneth Branagh, Niamh Cusack, Ben Kingsley, Ian McDiarmid, Daniel Massey, Edward Petherbridge, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Antony Sher, Juliet Stevenson, David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker. Each gives a unique insight into the preparation and performance of a major Shakespearian role and how a character is created through responding to Shakespeare's text, within the context of a particular director's conception and the environment established by the designer. A brief biographical note is provided for each of the contributors and an introduction places the essays in the context of the Stratford and London stages, and of the music and design for the particular productions.

Players of Shakespeare 3
Russell Jackson (Editor), Robert Smallwood (Editor)
Cambridge University Press
Paperback - 8 September, 1994

 
Synopsis
This is the third volume of essays by actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Thirteen actors describe the Shakespearian roles they played in productions between 1987 and 1991. The contributors are Roger Allam, Simon Russell Beale, Brian Cox, Gregory Doran, Penny Downie, Ralph Fiennes, Deborah Findlay, Philip Franks, Anton Lesser, Maggie Steed, Sophie Thompson, Harriet Walter and Nicholas Woodeson. The plays covered include "Hamlet", "Richard III", "The Merchant of Venice", "As You Like It", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Measure for Measure", "Cymbeline", "Titus Andronicus", "King John" and the "Henry VI" plays in the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation retitled "The Plantagenets". A brief biographical note is provided for each of the contributors.

Les Misérables
Original London Cast Recording (Remastered)
First Night Records
Audio CD - 19 May 1998

 

Review
This recording captures the 1985 London cast that transformed an obscure French musical based on Victor Hugo's gargantuan novel of pre-Revolutionary France into a worldwide phenomenon throughout the late-1980s and '90s and became one of the best examples of the era's trend of blockbuster musical spectacles. Yes, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schoenberg's score tends to recycle its themes, but its beautiful melodies and stirring anthems rarely fail to captivate and touch its audience. Colm Wilkinson is the heroic Valjean, Patti LuPone is the tragic Fantine, Michael Ball is the love-struck Marius, and Frances Ruffelle is the despondent Eponine, with Roger Allam (Javert), Alun Armstrong and Sue Jane Tanner (the Thénardiers), Rebecca Caine (older Cosette), and David Burt (Enjolras) filling out the excellent cast. Fans will want to take note that this recording includes some material that was revised when the show crossed the pond to Broadway--"Little People" was lost altogether, while the "Love Montage" was significantly rewritten. Les Misérables sounds especially vivid in its 1998 remastering, and a synopsis and full lyrics are included.

City of Angels
Original London Cast Recording
Bmg/Rca Victor
Audio CD - 12 October 1993

Artists include: Cy Coleman, David Zippel, Susannah Fellows, Martin Smith, Roger Allam, Maurice Clarke.


Visit the Internet Theatre Bookshop and choose your books from
the most comprehensive Catalogue of plays & theatre-related books in the world

  ©Linda Green 2006