The Drama & Plays category has 329 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 648 ratings. The most-rated is Girls & Boys.
Girls & Boys
Summary
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence. An acclaimed Off-Broadway play, the gut-wrenching world of Girls & Boys now thrives as an Audible Theater production. After the play, this program includes an interview with Tony-winning playwright Dennis Kelly, who shares the inspiration behind his work. Note: Girls & Boys is intended for a mature audience and contains graphic descriptions of violence.
©2018 Dennis Kelly (P)2018 AO Media, LLC.
Have a Nice Day
Summary
Have a Nice Day features a live multi-cast script reading captured over two evenings in October of 2018 at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Tony and Emmy Award-winner Billy Crystal leads an all-star cast including Oscar winner Kevin Kline (President David Murray) and four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening (First Lady Katherine Murray) in a performance of this hilarious and poignant story about a man desperately scrambling to put his affairs in order: to save his presidency, his marriage, his relationship with his daughter - and possibly his life. President David Murray starts the day in crisis. He’s lost control of Congress, has to decide whether to run for a second term, and his wife and teenage daughter are barely talking to him. What’s more, the Angel of Death has sent a rather inept “repo man” who is at the foot of his bed, giving him only one more day to live. Cast members include Justin Bartha, Irene Bedard, Annette Bening, Chris Cafero, Dick Cavett, Auli'i Cravalho, Billy Crystal, Rachel Dratch, Darrell Hammond, Christopher Jackson, Robert King, Kevin Kline, and Robin Thede.
©2018 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC
State of Wonder
Summary
A New York Times best seller Orange Prize nominee A Time Magazine’s Best Books of the Year A Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Top Ten Best Books A Wellcome Trust Book Prize nominee. “Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.” (New York Times Book Review) Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author Ann Patchett returns with a provocative and assured novel of morality and miracles, science and sacrifice set in the Amazon rainforest. Marina Singh is a research scientist at Vogel, a pharmaceutical institute in Minnesota, and inconveniently in love with her boss, Mr. Fox. When one of her colleagues is reported to have died while following up on the progress of a field team based in Brazil, Marina is dispatched by Mr. Fox to the Amazon to uncover the truth of his death. And his widow wants his effects. She travels to Manaus, then down into the Amazonian delta, deep into the dense, dark, insect-infested jungle. The research team is looking into the development of a new miracle drug that could revolutionize Western society. A local tribe has the bark of a certain tree, it yields a substance which allows them to conceive late into middle age: many of the women are getting pregnant into their 60s and 70s. The problem is that the team is taking too long: they have been silent for two years, and Marina has been tasked to find out what is holding back their progress. The second problem is more serious: the team is being headed up by the daunting figure of Annick Swenson, an eminent and fiercely uncompromising scientist who was once Marina’s colleague, and towards whom Marina has very complicated feelings. What Marina learns will change her life. In a novel that is packed with amazing twists and surprises, Ann Patchett returns with immense confidence to a broad canvas, teeming with atmosphere and characters and rich with narrative. Remarkable events - fights with anacondas; encounters with cannibals; deaths; re-births - and profound moral decisions come together in a novel that will enthrall her many listeners and fans and is guaranteed to be a major best seller. Infusing the narrative with the same ingenuity and emotional urgency that pervaded her acclaimed previous novels Bel Canto, Taft, Run, The Magician’s Assistant, and The Patron Saint of Liars, Patchett delivers an enthralling, innovative tale of aspiration, exploration, and attachment in State of Wonder - a gripping adventure story and a profound look at the difficult choices we make in the name of discovery and love.
©2011 Ann Patchett (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Secondary Phase (Dramatized)
Summary
A dynamic remastering of the second BBC Radio 4 full-cast serial - Fit the Seventh to Fit the Twelfth - which spawned a phenomenal hitchhiking legend.
The second original series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy remastered by Dirk Maggs (director of the Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases) to give a full, vibrant sound, now with Philip Pope’s version of the familiar theme tune and specially re-recorded announcements by John Marsh.
Stranded on Prehistoric Earth since the end of the first series, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are once again trying to hitch their way off the planet. Zaphod finds his visit to the offices of the Guide rudely interrupted by Frogstar fighters, who further threaten to feed him to the Total Perspective Vortex. Eventually reunited, the three fetch up on the planet Brontitall and discover the indigenous species in something of a flap. Arthur meets Lintilla (several of her), Marvin gets to be a hero once again, and there is a meeting with the Man in the Shack who apparently runs the Universe....
Peter Jones, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Stephen Moore and a full supporting cast star in these BBC Radio 4 episodes.
Also included is a bonus 50-minute interview with Douglas Adams - who died in 2001 - in which he discusses his career and work.
©2008 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Evil Eye
Summary
Evil Eye garnered an Audie Award for Original Work in 2020. Usha is convinced that the Evil Eye, a curse that brings continuous misfortune, was cast upon her daughter, Pallavi, in the womb. What else could have possibly left her driven, career-oriented daughter edging closer and closer to 30 without a prospective husband? Determined to set Pallavi on the right path, Usha arranges date after date with potential suitors - but after yet another setup fails, it seems her efforts are proving fruitless. But in an unexpected turn of events, Pallavi becomes her own matchmaker when she meets - and quickly falls for - Sandeep, a young Indian-American entrepreneur. And though she expects her mother will be elated with her finally finding a man, Pallavi is distraught and confused to find her mother growing increasingly suspicious of Sandeep’s motives...and his true identity. Told through a series of phone calls and voicemails, this Audible Original penned by award-winning rising star playwright Madhuri Shekar transitions seamlessly from a light-hearted family dramedy to an unexpectedly supernatural thriller. With an endearing cast of well-rounded characters, sharp, natural dialogue, and a shocking edge-of-your-seat climax, Evil Eye is a can’t-miss tale about cultural miscommunications, family secrets, and the lingering echoes of trauma. Playwright Madhuri Shekar was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop Evil Eye. Please note: This audio contains strong language, distressing situations, and descriptions of abuse and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Discretion is advised.
©2019 Madhuri Shekar (P)2019 AO Media LLC
Monstrous Regiment
Summary
War has come to Discworld...again. And, to no one's great surprise, the conflict centers around the small, insufferably arrogant, strictly fundamentalist duchy of Borogravia, which has long prided itself on its ability to beat up on its neighbors. This time, however, it's Borogravia that's getting its long-overdue comeuppance, which has left the country severely drained of young men. Ever since her brother Paul marched off to battle a year ago, Polly Perks has been running The Duchess, her family's inn, even though the revered national deity, Nuggan, has decreed that female ownership of a business is an Abomination. To keep The Duchess in the family, Polly must find her missing sibling. So she cuts off her hair, dons masculine garb, and sets out to join him in this man's army. Polly is afraid that someone will see through her disguise; a fear that proves groundless when the legendary Sergeant Jackrum accepts her without question. Or perhaps the sergeant is too desperate to discriminate, which would explain why a vampire, a troll, a zombie, a religious fanatic, and two uncommonly close "friends" are also eagerly welcomed into the fighting fold. Soon, Polly finds herself wondering about the myriad peculiarities of her new brothers-in-arms. It would appear that Polly "Ozzer" Perks is not the only grunt with a secret.
©2003 Terry Pratchett (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Stories by Heart
Summary
What if a world-famous actor came to your home to read you a bedtime story? In the case of John Lithgow, he’d be reading you selections from his own cherished childhood volume of Tellers of Tales, a famous collection of 100 short stories from all over the world. In the Lithgow household, bedtime stories from this anthology were read aloud to John and his siblings by their father, Arthur Lithgow. It is only fitting then that towards the end of his father’s life, Lithgow read these same stories back to his father, tapping into the power of art to comfort, heal, and transcend. These stories and remembrances form the basis of Lithgow’s most recent Broadway production, Stories by Heart, with each act anchored by dramatic readings of The Haircut by Ring Lardner and Uncle Fred Flits By by P. G. Wodehouse. In this Audible Original, you will also hear Lithgow narrate a third tale from the anthology, The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs. Stories by Heart is a stunning tribute to a father from a son, performed by a Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe award-winning actor, and now it is available to you, only from Audible. Please note: "Haircut" by Ring Lardner is included by kind permission of the Estate of Ring Lardner. "Uncle Fred Flits" By by P. G. Wodehouse is included by kind permission of the Estate of P. G. Wodehouse and taken from his collection of short stories, Young Men in Spats (1936).
©2018 John Lithgow (P)2018 AO Media, LLC.
Sea Wall / A Life
Summary
Meet Alex, a photographer on a holiday with his family in the south of France. Meet Abe, a music producer with a baby on the way. Two men - both fathers, husbands, and sons - take us on a journey you will never forget. The finest actors of their generation, Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Sunday in the Park with George) and Tony Award nominee Tom Sturridge (1984), had audiences roaring to their feet during the sold-out Broadway engagement. Now Sea Wall / A Life, a dramatic exploration of transformative love and devastating loss, comes to Audible.
©2020 Simon Stephens and Nick Payne (P)2020 AO Media, LLC.
Dialogue
Summary
The long-awaited follow-up to the perennially best-selling writers' guide Story, from the most sought-after expert in the art of storytelling. Robert McKee's popular writing workshops have earned him an international reputation. The list of alumni with Oscars runs off the page. The cornerstone of his program is his singular book, Story, which has defined how we talk about the art of story creation. Now, in Dialogue, McKee offers the same in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbeth to Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech. Famous McKee alumni include Peter Jackson, Jane Campion, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Haggis, the writing team for Pixar, and many others. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2016 Robert McKee (P)2016 Hachette Audio
Hamilton
Summary
A backstage pass to the groundbreaking hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda, now streaming on Disney+ with the original cast. Winner, 2017 APA Audie Awards - Audiobook of the Year Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject: the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States. Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, this once-in-a-generation show broadens the sound of Broadway, reveals the storytelling power of rap, and claims our country's origins for a diverse new generation. Hamilton: The Revolution gives listeners an unprecedented view into both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages - "since before this was even a show", according to Miranda - traces its development from an improbable performance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here. Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sondheim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by President Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don't throw away their shot. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2016 Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (P)2016 Hachette Audio
True West
Summary
Kit Harington (Games of Thrones) and Johnny Flynn (Beast) smolder and burn as sparring brothers in Sam Shepard’s darkly comic 1980 drama. The Cain and Abel conflict is a showdown of sibling rivalry, to be sure, but also bears witness to a legacy of booze-fueled family brawls. As Harington and Flynn duel it out, they bring a cagey, wiry energy to director Matthew Dunster’s West End revival of this Pulitzer Prize finalist. The portrait of the estranged pair is a riveting study in contrasts as Harington’s successful screenwriter and Flynn’s scheming grifter explosively collide in the California desert. The scorched, arid setting is more than just a backdrop; its expanse and emptiness make it a palpable presence in a play about wounded masculinity and broken dreams. The live theatre production of True West was performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in London, United Kingdom, in 2019. It was produced by Joseph Smith and John Brant for Smith & Brant Theatricals and James Bierman for Empire Street Productions. Portions of this audio drama contain mature language and themes. Listener discretion is advised.
©2019 Sam Shepard (P)2019 AO Media LLC
A Streetcar Named Desire
Summary
Anne-Marie Duff stars as Blanche DuBois in BBC Radio 3's landmark production of Tennessee Williams' masterpiece.
Tennessee Williams' iconic play tells the story of a catastrophic confrontation between fantasy and reality, embodied in the characters of Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski.
Blanche DuBois arrives unexpectedly on the doorstep of her sister, Stella, and her explosive brother-in-law, Stanley. Over the course of one hot and steamy New Orleans summer, Blanche's fragile façade slowly crumbles, wreaking havoc on Stella and Stanley's already turbulent relationship....
Embodying the turmoil and drama of a changing nation, A Streetcar Named Desire strips Williams' tortured characters of their illusions, leaving a wake of destruction in their path.
Tennessee Williams' 1947 drama is one of the most loved and well-known stage plays of the 20th century. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1948, and the 1951 film adaptation picked up four Oscars. In this compelling radio dramatisation, Blanche is played by Olivier Award-winning actress Anne-Marie Duff, with a stellar cast including Matthew Needham as Stanley and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Stella.
Cast: Blanche: Anne-Marie Duff Stella: Pippa Bennett-Warner Stanley: Matthew Needham Mitch: John Heffernan Steve: David Sturzaker Eunice: Sarah Ridgeway Pablo: John Dougal Mexican Woman: Leila Arias Collector: Tom Forrister Nurse: Georgie Glen
Dramatised by Sarah Churchwell.
Produced and directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
©2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2018 BBC Worldwide Ltd
Daniel Deronda
Summary
Meeting by chance at a gambling hall in Europe, the separate lives of Daniel Deronda and Gwendolen Harleth are immediately intertwined. Daniel, an Englishman of uncertain parentage, becomes Gwendolyn's redeemer as she finds herself drawn to his spiritual and altruistic nature after a loveless marriage. But Daniel's path was already set when he rescued a young Jewess from suicide. Daniel Deronda, George Eliot's final novel, is a remarkable work, encompassing themes of religion, imperialism and gender within its broad and fascinating scope. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
Public Domain (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks
Hamlet: The Arkangel Shakespeare
Summary
Shakespeare's most famous play is one of the greatest stories in the literature of the world. Distressed by his father's death and his mother's over-hasty remarriage, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is faced by a specter from beyond the grave bearing a grim message of murder and revenge. The young prince is driven to the edge of madness by his struggle to understand the situation he finds himself in and to do his duty. Many others, including Hamlet's beloved, the innocent Ophelia, are swept up in his tragedy. Hamlet is played by Simon Russell Beale. Imogen Stubbs plays Ophelia, Jane Lapotaire is Gertrude, and Bob Peck is Claudius. Polonius is played by Norman Rodway.
Public Domain (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Twelve Angry Men
Summary
Over the course of a steamy and tense afternoon, 12 jurors deliberate the fate of a 19-year-old boy alleged to have murdered his own father. A seemingly open and shut case turns complicated, igniting passions and hidden prejudices. This audio also includes an interview with Reginald Rose's widow, Ellen, in which she talks about how her late husband came to write the original teleplay version of Twelve Angry Men.
©1984 Reginald Rose (P)2005 L.A. Theatre Works
Feeding the Dragon
Summary
For a book-obsessed kid with a big imagination and a flair for drama, could anything be luckier than living in a library? Capturing her remarkable childhood and its impact, Sharon Washington's autobiographical Off-Broadway show brings its sense of wonder and bittersweet realism into your home and heart as an enthralling audio experience. Only from Audible, Feeding the Dragon celebrates the role of books in opening Washington's mind to worlds of possibilities - including a career in acting. As part of our mission to offer listeners outstanding performances in contemporary theater, we are thrilled to present acclaimed stage actor Washington’s debut as a playwright. Intimate and emotionally nuanced, Sharon Washington's reckoning of childhood, race, and memory is, as one listener says, a "feast for the creative soul."
©2018 Sharon Washington (P)2018 AO Media, LLC.
Coming Back Alive
Summary
When the fishing vessel La Conte sinks suddenly at night in 100-mile-per-hour winds and record 90-foot seas during a savage storm in January 1998, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can. One hundred fifty miles away, in Sitka, Alaska, an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifts off from America's most remote Coast Guard base in the hopes of tracking down an anonymous Mayday signal. A fisherman's worst nightmare has become a Coast Guard crew's desperate mission. As the crew of the La Conte begin to die one by one, those sworn to watch over them risk everything to pull off the rescue of the century. Spike Walker's memoir of his years as a deckhand in Alaska, Working on the Edge, was hailed by James A. Michner as "masterful...will become the definitive account of this perilous trade, an addition to the literature of the sea." In Coming Back Alive, Walker has crafted his most devastating book to date. Meticulously researched through hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the survivors, this is the true account of the La Conte's final voyage and the relationship between Alaskan fishermen and the search and rescue crews who risked their lives to save them.
©2001 Spike Walker (P)2018 Tantor
Copenhagen
Summary
Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi and Simon Russell Beale star in Michael Frayn's award-winning play about the controversial 1941 meeting between physicists Bohr and Heisenberg. Copenhagen, Autumn 1941.
The two presiding geniuses of quantum physics, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg meet for the first time since the breakout of war. Danish physicist Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, live in Nazi-occupied Denmark; their visitor, Heisenberg, is German, the two old friends, now on opposing sides have between them the ability to change the course of history.
Frayn's Tony award-winning play imagines the three characters re-drafting the events of 1941 in an attempt to make sense of them. With Greta Scacchi as Margrethe Bohr, Simon Russell Beale as Niels Bohr and Benedict Cumberbatch as Werner Heisenberg. This new version of Copenhagen is adapted for radio and directed by Emma Harding.
©2013 AudioGO Ltd (P)2013 AudioGO Ltd
The Swimmer
Summary
At the age of 64, legendary athlete Diana Nyad inspired the world when she walked onto the shores of Key West after "crossing the Mt. Everest of the earth's oceans", becoming the first person in history to make the 111-mile swim from Cuba to Florida without the assistance of a shark cage. In her riveting new play The Swimmer, recorded live at the Minetta Lane Theatre, Nyad shares the heartbreaking setbacks, brushes with death, and the victories that kept her going, plunging the audience into the depths of her extraordinary journey. Written by Nyad, directed by Emmy Award winner Jane Anderson, and featuring her longtime friend and coach Bonnie Stoll, Nyad makes her New York stage debut in this powerful true story of passion and resilience.
©2020 Diana Nyad (P)2020 AO Media LLC
August: Osage County
Summary
Winner of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play, Tracy Letts' darkly comic epic offers a painfully funny look at a family struggling in the desolate heart of America. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, featuring members of the original Steppenwolf Theatre and Broadway productions: Tara Lynne Barr, Shannon Cochran, Deanna Dunagan (Tony Award®, Best Leading Actress), Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Scott Jaeck, Ron Livingston, Robert Maffia, Mariann Mayberry, Rondi Reed (Tony Award®, Best Featured Actress), and David Warshofsky. Directed by Bart DeLorenzo. Recorded by L.A. Thetare Works before a live audience.
©2014 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2014 L.A. Theatre Works