Shakespeare, William

The young King of Navarre and three of his courtiers have vowed to lock themselves away for three years of study and fasting, and to forswear the company of women for this period. No sooner is their vow made than it is tested, however, as the Princess of France and three of her ladies arrive in Navarre on a diplomatic mission. The young men fall instantly and hopelessly in love, and the tension between their vow and their passion forms the subject of this charming and sparkling early comedy.

Imogene, the daughter of King Cymbeline, is persecuted by her wicked stepmother, the Queen, and by Cloten, the Queen's doltish son. Disguised as a boy, she sets out to find her husband, the banished Posthumus. On her journey, she unwittingly meets her two brothers, stolen from the court as infants and brought up in rustic innocence, unaware of their princely idenities. Posthumus, meanwhile, has been convinced by the vilainous lachimo that that Imogen is unfaithful to him.

Young Antipholus of Syracuse is searching the world for his identical twin brother, separated from him at birth. Whis him is his servant Dromio, who lost his twin brother at the same time. The pair arrive in Ephesus where, unbeknownst to them, their twins are living. Chaos and confusion mount to a crescendo in this wild and fast-paced comedy of mistaked identity. One of Shakespeare's earliest plays.

The young and virtuous physician's daughter Helena deperately loves Count Bertram, but he regards her as beneath his notice. When Helena cures the King of France of a mortal illness he rewads her with Bertram's hand, but before their marriage can be consummated the Count flees. To win her husband back again Helen forms a daring and resourceful plan. A plot to unmask the strutting soldier Parolles makes up another strand in this sometimes disturbing comedy of deception and disguise.

Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman World, has become the thrall of the fascinating Cleopatra. Affairs of the state call him to Rome, but the attractions of the Queen of Egypt prove impossible to resist. From one of history's greatest love stories Shakespeare builds this magnificent tragedy of the clash between love and duty.

Rosalind, daughter of the deposed Duke Senior, is exiled from the court by her wicked uncle. Disguising herself as a young man and accompanied by her cousin Celia and their loyal fool Touchstone, she takes refuge in the Forest of Arden. In the forest Rosalind finds she has unwittingly attracted the shepardss Phebe. But out of the confusion comes the reconciliation and forgiveness, and all ends happily.

King Henry is married to Katherine of Aragon, but he has been smitten by the charms of the Queen's Maid of Honor, Anne Bullen, and is tempted to divorce his dignified and noble wife. Meanwhile, the lords of England reset the influence of Henry's trusted advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, who is gradually drawing power into his own hands. As Katherine and Wolsey suffer their tragic falls, new figures rise to fill their places, but they too, will be brought low by the inexorable sweep of time and fortune.

"Thou mettest with things dying, I with things new-born." King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden and terrible jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing to have been fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born he orders her to be taken to some wild place and left to die. Though Hermione's child escapes death, Leontes' cruelty has terrible consequences. Loss paves the way for reunion, and life and hope are born out of desolation and despair.