Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Julius Caesar
    Julius Caesar
    Julius Caesar
    Audiobook2 hours

    Julius Caesar

    Written by William Shakespeare

    Narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, Kelsey Grammer and Full Cast

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Richard Dreyfuss, Kelsey Grammer and Stacy Keach star in one of Shakespeare's most revered tragedies.

    The skies over ancient Rome blaze with terrifying portents, and soothsayers warn Julius Caesar of approaching doom. As conspiracy swirls through the city, Shakespeare explores the deep repercussions of political murder on the human heart. A classic tale of duplicity, betrayal and murder, masterfully performed by an all-star, all-American cast in this BBC co-production.

    “...a wonderful addition to any audio theater library.” Audiofile Magazine

    An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:
    Stacy Keach as Marcus Brutus
    John de Lancie as Cassius
    Richard Dreyfuss as Marc Antony
    Harold Gould as Caesar
    Jack Coleman as Casca
    JoBeth Williams as Portia
    Bonnie Bedelia as Calphurnia
    Kelsey Grammer as Murellus
    John Randolph as Flavius and Artemidorus
    Arye Gross as Octavius
    alongside the voices of Paul Winfield, John Vickery, Basil Langton, David Birney, George Murdock, James Morrison, Andrew White, Rudy Hornish, Lee Arenberg,
    Jon Matthews, Josh Fardon, Paul Mercier, Arthur Hanket and Marnie Mosiman

    Directed by Martin Jenkins. Recorded at KCRW, Los Angeles in November, 1994.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherL.A. Theatre Works
    Release dateJan 1, 1994
    ISBN9781580814669
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

    More audiobooks from William Shakespeare

    Related to Julius Caesar

    Related audiobooks

    Performing Arts For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Smeltzer the Musky Angler

      Oct 17, 2020

      Smeltzer the Musky Angler
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sentimental Sounds

      Nov 1, 2022

      Sentimental Sounds
      3 min read

    • Article

      I’ve Seen The Light

      Aug 10, 2018

      I’ve Seen The Light
      9 min read

    • Article

      from BLACK PASTORAL

      Nov 1, 2023

      somewheres, some lifetimes ago I have run so far, so long.There is nowhere I haven’t beenBut here, in this field, a bodyLength from the ragged brinkThat gives way to forest.I collapsed here, the thin, hard slipOf me whittled at both ends.I want badly

      4 min read

    • Article

      Nick Laird

      Dec 15, 2017

      I was trying to write like an adult.I had children.I was at the end of something. As I waited at my table by the window for the coffee,I saw that the sirocco had depositeda scrim of dust on the sill overnight,and it was the dark red of powdered blood

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Time Machine

      Aug 4, 2021

      There’s a pattern built into this story – can you work it out from the numbers in bold at the start of each section? I’m sitting on the beach by Rhodes port, watching sailors load our luggage onto a ship bound for Rome. I don’t want to go, but my f

      7 min read

    • Article

      1887 Vrc Derby

      Sep 30, 2021

      1887 Vrc Derby
      7 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jan 1, 2019

      PSH (1967–2014) It’s not enough to say “sad,” alright,you need a flood. You need a linelike a serrated knife edgeto even get started, an anti-riff, likewhatever the violin that can’t keep its chin upcrawling out from under the worried trombonesays in

      3 min read

    • Article

      Our Local Dead

      Sep 1, 2020

      IT SEEMS somehow very timely, so close to All Souls’ Day, the chance discovery of an ossuary in Calle de Arapiles in Madrid, near to where I still live—an ossuary that originally contained no fewer than three hundred corpses. Apparently, these mortal

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Essay On Faith

      May 1, 2022

      exordium While sound and seaworthy, I confess a life of false confessions, false hearts, ample contempt for bench warrants charging me with failures to appear. Let what interest death’s elbow grease won’t erase compound, judgments sealed in my ova, m

      4 min read

    • Article

      Until The Sea Closed Over Us And The Light Was Gone

      Jul 1, 2020

      —Dante, Canto XXVI But if the truth is dreamed of toward the morning—El Paso Although it was really last summer’s song,all this summer Despacito played on as slower then I turned myself to gazeupon Juarez. The summer everything hurts my eyes, a dozen

      6 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems by Geoffrey Hill

      Dec 15, 2018

      62. Why such irony in re the mystical context when a graph of even the most commonplace exchange would appear perplexed; when we drop out from the plainest statement in the posture of a bat? So, decide to make something of that, the style to resemble

      2 min read

    • Article

      John Ashbery

      Mar 15, 2019

      He could understand the things at home.—Wallace Stevens, “Things of August” Scribbled on the expansive mist, the desireof many dwindles to usand our “activities,” wholesomeor otherwise. Soon it becomes apparentthat neither they nor I have any prise o

      4 min read

    • Article

      Painting The Past

      Feb 22, 2024

      Painting The Past
      6 min read

    • Article

      Jan Morris

      Jun 15, 2018

      I have always rather envied the poet Ovid, who was banished from Rome by the emperor Augustus, you may remember, to a remote place called Tomis on the shores of the Black Sea. There he died, ten years later, and his exile has gone into legend and int

      17 min read

    • Article

      HERNAN BAS New and Recent Work

      Dec 15, 2018

      HERNAN BAS New and Recent Work
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hook, Line And Sinker

      Oct 18, 2018

      Hook, Line And Sinker
      4 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      May 1, 2020

      Your body becomes dangerousin water, after you watch Memoirs of a Geisha & learn aboutthe eel & the cave, knowing it’s a metaphor for sex but alsotaking it literally, imagining what animal mightswim up into you as you wade, nakedin the lake under a c

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Island (catullus 64)

      Mar 1, 2022

      Back then the evergreens tumbled downriverfrom the glaze-white runoff to the boot-stirred puddlesof amber young men who fulfilled our destiny,who clambered into ships, on horses, and in wagonspainting the newfound landscapes ours.Our calling was nobl

      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Julius Caesar

    3.5/5

    2,311 ratings50 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I know it's not his best, and it's not as much fun as Tamburlaine, the Marlowe play Shakespeare was ripping off, but I have a soft spot for it.
    • 3/5
      1599, meest klassieke tragedie, bron is Plutarchus; perfecte tekst (bijna helemaal rijm), later verketterd als schooltekstBrutus is de hoofdrolspeler, maar Caesar beheerst wel de handeling. Brutus is een idealist die ten onder gaat door een gebrek aan praktisch doorzicht; het tegendeel is Cassius, maar toch meer medevoelen met hem; Antonius is de gehaaide opportunist, demagoog. Brutus? motieven: II,1 (p 820)Moord III,1Verheven pathetiek van Marcus Antonius na de moord, p 826, 827 (maar wel vals)Redevoeringen bij begrafenis III,2 vormen het hoogtepunt, vooral die van Antonius (p 828-29): opruiend door details over de dood van Caesar en een verwijzing naar zijn testament, tegelijk vriendelijk ten aanzien van de samenzweerders.
    • 3/5
      I had tried delving into the Divine Comedy, but it just wasn't doing it for me after the first handful of cantos in Inferno. "I need something more violent right now," thought I. So I decided to read Titus, which I somehow never read (though I heart the movie intensely). Dang! Why isn't Lavinia as held up as Ophelia? She doesn't even have her own little Wikipedia page. I always thought of Ophelia as kind of a bleeding heart, and here is Lavinia, fighting to get her family to comprehend her, overcoming her wounds to see her rapists punished and then suiciding by father (or whatever you call it, despite how Titus puts it, she's willing and unable to commit the act herself) once revenge is carried out.This is now in my top three Shakespeare plays (Richard III and Julius Caesar being the others). It's got some weird shit going on, if you don't mind the colloquial vagueness of that. It was nice reading ol' Shakey again, I haven't really delved into his stuff since that advanced class years ago sort of wore me out on it.
    • 5/5
      A well performed play with an all-star cast. I wish the breaks came with the acts, but this is a small inconvenience.
    • 5/5
      A gruesome look at the Roman conquest of the Goths. Revenge, crueltly, loyalty-it's all considered in this early Shakespeare play. It is (as with all his work) best viewed, too-the Anthony Hopkins movie version, Titus, is amazing. Have the play at hand to read, because sometimes it helps.
    • 5/5
      Just a marvelous edition - the new Arden Shakespeares really are incomparable. The editions as a whole are designed more at the serious academic, but their "Julius Caesar" will cater for people of all levels.
    • 3/5
      Summary:This book was about the comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances about Ancient Heroes, bloody wars, and magical creatures. This was a book of power and drama. The theme was set in black and white.Personal Reaction:My personal reaction to this story was that how could one man rule the way Caesar did in Rome and lead his army to countless victories.Classroom Extension:I would use this book in my class to teach children on the power that one individual can have over others.
    • 4/5
      Incredibly bloody, even by modern standards.
    • 4/5
      did an adaptation of a scene of this! love it!
    • 3/5
      Julius Caesar is the first Shakeaspeare I ever read (in English I). I didn't remember much of it when I picked it up again in preparation for a performance at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, but was pleasantly surprised by how modern and relevant it seemed.
    • 3/5
      My reaction to much of this book was, "Wow, this is Shakespeare?" "Titus Andronicus" is simply brutal... and definitely the most violent play of Shakespeare's that I've ever read. There is a hardly a scene that goes by that someone isn't murdered, raped or dismembered. The play, at its heart, is a tale of revenue in its most violent form.As such, this isn't one of my favorite plays... there isn't much subtle or playful here. But it also managed to keep my attention, as I wondered how Shakespeare was going to top the prior scene with something even more horrible. Overall, I found it interesting and much darker than a typical Shakespearean tragedy.
    • 5/5
      I think everyone knows parts of this play: "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears." The first part of it is maybe not so well known, but I think most people know something of Mark Antony's speech after Caesar's death. I think this might be my favourite Shakespeare play so far -- possibly partly due to already loving to read about Caesar, but also because of the strength of the rhetoric in it.

      I have actually seen parts of this performed -- the speech I referred to, actually -- and when I'd read it, I looked on youtube for performances of my favourite parts. I'd go see this play in a heartbeat.

      So, anyone remember why I disliked Shakespeare before...? I do wish schools wouldn't shove Romeo and Juliet down people's throats: it's far from my favourite.
    • 5/5
      The first Shakespeare I ever read. I am wildly in love with Marc Antony (odd, because I actively despise him in [book: Antony and Cleopatra]).
    • 4/5
      I recently sat down with Titus as part of my undergraduate degree and found it thoroughly enjoyable in a gruesome kind of a way. Shakespeare's understanding of how drama works is in full evidence, and although it all smacks a bit of Marlowe's work, the young Shakespeare still produced a play that is shocking and dark, but that also has moments of odd compassion. It reminded me of humanitie's unfortunate habit of destroying itself in the name of perpetual concepts like love, honor, and dignity. Violence is part of the human condition, and that is why I think the play still speaks to us today.
    • 3/5
      A violent and bloody tragedy, that may well have been a dark comedy in its time.
    • 4/5
      This revenge play might not be one of Shakespeare's best crafted plays from a literary perspective, but it has its merits from a theatrical point of view- namely, two of his best villians. In particular, Tamora is for my money Shakespeare's best role for a woman after Lady MacBeth. Of course he can hardly be blamed for not writing more great roles "for women," as he didn't write *anything* for them- there were no actresses and the women would be played by young boys, not seasoned, mature performers. However, from the perspective of a modern woman whose appreciation of a play can be swayed by how much she would want to be in it, it is hard not to read this gore-fest and think how much fun it could be.
    • 3/5
      When I initially attempted to read this, I couldn't understand what was going on, but after careful study and rereading, I was very proud to see I could comprehend it. I found it exciting and dramatic!
    • 4/5
      Not my favorite Shakespeare play, but mainly because this is one where the Bard was more concerned with moving the pieces around than creating those great Shakespearean moments of pathos. His audience-goers would have all been familiar with the details of Caesar's death, along with its central irony: that Octavius Caesar becomes the dictator that Brutus and Cassius were trying to stop by murdering Julius.

      Contemporary audiences don't necessarily know this context, and I would have liked to see more character development: at the end of the play, I didn't have a good handle on the personalities of the conspirators.

      After another reading, I agree with some commentators that what is key is the skill of the Roman orators and their attempts to convince each other (and themselves) of the justice of their cause. Especially interesting is the use of (and lapses in) iambic pentameter.
    • 4/5
      This was a re-read from high school days. While certainly a classic, filled with memorable passages, it's hard to give a play a high reading rating. The joy and wonder of it is in its performance.
    • 5/5
      This was great fun, although it was quite hard keeping all the characters straight in my mind because so many of them had unfamiliar Roman/Latin names.
    • 4/5
      Reason to read: Shakespeare Category Challenge, ROOTThis was actually enjoyable to listen to. Some great lines that are very familiar and of course the story is as well. Caesar, Anthony, Brutus, the Ides of March. One should probably read this one in March..
    • 5/5
      I am doing some preliminary research and decided to start with Shakespeare.
    • 5/5
      One of Shakespeare's greatest and most accessible plays. Marc Antony's speech is one of Shakespeare's best, especially as it follows what would otherwise seem a pretty good speech by Brutus. Cutthroat politics goes back a long way....
    • 3/5
      Not Shakespeare's best, but then even his lesser works are better than 99% of the rest out there. Not my favorite, but still recommended.
    • 4/5
      It's Shakespeare, so pretty much everyone dies.
    • 4/5
      I liked this one. There is some good banter at the beginning, the speeches over Caesar’s body are wonderful, and the scenes set at the battle of Philippi felt appropriately hopeful or despondent. Caesar is a bit of a non-entity, though, and I’d have wanted a little more friction between Mark Antony and Octavian Caesar. But a very enjoyable play on the whole.
    • 5/5
      One begins to understand cultural references the more one reads Shakespeare, and Julius Caesar is no exception to this rule (this is perhaps especially true for Star Trek fans). The fault being not in our stars but in ourselves is a great bit of poetry that everyone should heed.
    • 5/5
      I love the Folger editions w awesome illustrations from the library. This is a larger sized paperback which is easy on the eyes. I have to say that Shakespeare is fairly neutral in presenting the main characters.Was happy to see "Let loose the dogs of war", though I previously thought that was from one of the Henry's.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful classic that truly speaks to the duality of man and his eternal search for not only power, but those that are truly pure at heart. Amazing how many quotes and sayings have come from this piece of literature.
    • 3/5
      Enh I don't know what I can tell you about this. Antony's funeral oration is fairly amusing.