SmartPass Plus Audio Education Study Guide to Hamlet (Dramatised, Commentary Options)

By: William Shakespeare, Simon Potter

Narrated by: Joan Walker, Stephen Elder, Paul Clayton

The multi award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. This is a full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Universally accepted as Shakespeare's finest play, we peel back the layers of Hamlet to discover how and why it deserves such a place of honour in world literature.©2009 SmartPass Ltd (P)2009 SmartPass Ltd

Critic reviews

"Innovative, instructive and inspiring... lit crit to ensure A-satrs all round." ( The Guardian)
"Superb! A totally brilliant way to revise." ( Daily Express)
"Clear and lively...a stimulating study aid." ( Sunday Times)

Great way to enjoy and understand Shakespeare.

I think these SmartPass guides to Shakespeare plays are excellent. I've listened to Hamlet and King Lear and am planning to listen to Henry V next. The actors who uniformly excellent and the sound quality is great, which is important when trying to understand early modern english poetry in a British accent on ear buds! Most importantly, the narrator/lecturer does an amazing guide summarizing the plot and delving into the themes of the play, the ambiguities, and how the play fits into the greater context of Shakespeare's works. These audiobooks are really well done, and they are perfect for a high school or undergrad student studying one of these plays for the first time. It would be great to listen while reading along from a text.

Educational Entertainment at its best!

SmartPass has done a wonderful job. I couldn't stop listening. I learned so much. I would recommend this to anyone that loves a little history with their Shakespeare.

To Buy or Not to Buy, that is the question! BUY is the answer.

Superb Performance (Not to mention Guide)!

The actual reading of the theatrical work is superb and engrossing. Hamlet and the rest of the character cast as marvelously voiced and acted with such an energy and clarity of voice that you can't help but imagine the scenes in a vivid detail.

The guide portion, cleverly and discreetly inserted behind every passage that benefits from clarification, does not detract from the performance itself. The guide actually adds quite a lot to the performance, as she rallies you and inflects her own (merited) feelings as the play continues.

Overall, this is a great read for a novice Hamleteer as well as a seasoned veteran of the work--if you become bored with the SmartPass clarifications, you can simply switch over to the uninterrupted reading which is downloaded as a second file. Excellent!

Brilliant!

Where does SmartPass Plus Audio Education Study Guide to Hamlet (Dramatised, Commentary Options) rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the best audio I've listened to. The option to hear the audio with or without the commentary is brilliant. The commentary is perfect, almost section at a time commentary layered over the performance, which is outstanding. In fact, I like this so much that I wrote to the company and begged them to produce more Shakespeare SmartPass audios! I've since purchased all the Shakespeare SmartPass audiobook just based on the strength of this one. Highly recommended

What did you like best about this story?

It's Shakespeare! Full disclosure: I am a Shakespeare fanatic so I love this story.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Narrator was excellent. Full of passion and genuinely "gets" what Shakespeare is up to in this play.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Hamlet is no comedy! The acting is tremendously good.

Any additional comments?

Dear Audible: PLEASE contact the maker of this series and ask them to produce one for every shakespeare play possible! These are that good!

Amazing

All I can tell you is that the listening to Smart Pass allows for such great discovery to the many facets of this famous play. When I found out I had to study Hamlet for my English class, I was truly worried. How was I going to decipher the language, let alone the themes and plots. I studied up on several study guides and decided to go with Smart Pass. I was not disappointed. I was truly looking forward to listening to Hamlet. Shakespeare is truly an amazing play writer. So much is between the lines. I would recommend this to anyone. Don't even think twice. Very well worth the time and money.