Richard II (Dramatised)

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: John Gielgud, Michael Hordern, Leo McKern, Edward Hardwicke

Sir John Gielgud, Sir Michael Hordern, Leo McKern, and Edward Hardwicke star in this unabridged performance of Shakespeare's Richard II.

©2010 Saland Publishing (P)2010 Saland Publishing

Sometimes Inaudible

Unfortunately, these superlative performances are marred by dreadful sound quality. Some extended passages are literally inaudible, even while craning into the speaker with volume at full. There is a considerable hiss which masks a lot of the quieter speech.

There is really no excuse for this -- remastering to vastly clarify the sound is a relatively simple matter nowadays. Very disappointing.

Wonderful story, poor audio recording.

What would have made Richard II (Dramatised) better?

The quality of the audio recording was poor. Sometimes you could not hear what the characters are saying and they seemed far from the microphone.

Muffled

The audio quality of this play, one of Shakespeare's most lyrical, is, at best, highly erratic, ranging from good to nearly inaudible. It sounds as if the engineers had the use of only one microphone, which they placed in the center of the stage. As a result, depending on his position, an actor's lines will be either amplified or almost completely lost.

So there goes another wasted credit. Thanks, Audible. You make me want to try piracy.