Simon Armitage has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 13 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 368 ratings. The most-rated is The Son of Neptune.
The Son of Neptune
Summary
In The Lost Hero, three demigods named Jason, Piper, and Leo made their first visit to Camp Half-Blood, where they inherited a quest: Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, To storm or fire the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. Who are the other four mentioned in the prophesy? The answer may lie in another camp miles away, where a new camper has shown up and appears to be the son of Neptune, god of the sea.
©2011 Rick Riordan (P)2011 Listening Library
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Summary
The famous Middle English poem by an anonymous Northern England poet is beautifully translated by fellow poet Simon Armitage. This audiobook features a brilliant reading of the translation by Bill Wallis; as a bonus, Wallis also masterfully tackles the poem in its original Middle English text. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" narrates in crystalline verse the strange tale of a green knight who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts and then decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. Next Yuletide, Gawain dutifully sets forth. His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dream-like castle, a dire challenge answered, and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.
©2007 Simon Armitage (P)2007 BBC Audiobooks America
The Last Days of Troy
Summary
Lily Cole stars as Helen of Troy, ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’, in Simon Armitage’s vivid, visceral adaptation of Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid.
For 10 years, the Greeks have been laying siege to Troy to win back their abducted queen, Helen. But as the war drags on and the battlefields run scarlet with blood, the opposing forces are entrenched in a bitter stalemate. As gods and mortals squabble amongst themselves for the spoils of war, the exhausted warriors go to extreme lengths in a desperate grab for victory....
Dramatised by multiaward-winning poet and playwright Simon Armitage, The Last Days of Troy was first produced as a stage play at the Manchester Royal Exchange and Shakespeare’s Globe, and this radio version features the original cast. Both a tense action adventure and a powerful commentary on the futility of war, it brings Homer’s ancient myth to dynamic life and explores themes that still resonate today, in a world locked in cycles of conflict and revenge, East versus West and with the same dangerous combination of pride, lies and self-deception that fuelled the Trojan War.
Cast and credits Agamemnon - David Achilles - Jake Fairbrother Zeus - Richard Bremmer Odysseus - Colin Tierney Hera - Gillian Bevan Andromache/Thetis - Claire Calbraith Hector - Simon Harrison Helen - Lily Cole Paris - Tom Stuart Athene/Briseis - Francesca Zoutewelle Priam - Garry Cooper Patroclus - Brendan O’Hea Astyanax - Luca Rawlinson
Original music by Alex Baranowski. Directed for radio by Susan Roberts. First directed for The Royal Exchange Theatre by Nick Bagnall.
©2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd
The Bayeux Tapestry
Summary
A combination of verse from Simon Armitage and prose from Jeff Young lends a voice to the chain of events depicted on the famous Bayeux Tapestry. This production chronicles the history surrounding the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the ascension of Duke William of Normandy to the English throne. Harold, Duke of Wessex, takes the English throne, despite Edward the Confessor's wish that William Duke of Normandy should be his heir. Seeking retribution, William sails to England and heads his troops towards Hastings, where the battle eventually concludes with Harold's death by an arrow shot to the eye. Poetry and prose are interspersed with war correspondent-style reports on the action. As the royal dukes ponder their lot, assorted commoners of the day discuss fear, heroism and grief.
©2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd