SHAKESPEARE FOR CHILDREN

This recording is full of quiet delights—emphasis on the "quiet." Introducing their 1807 classic, the Lambs assured readers that these gentle retellings of Shakespeare's plays render unavoidably adult subjects fit for the innocent young. Narrating the Lambs' decorous prose at a stately pace, Josephine Bailey and Simon Vance expertly conform to the authors' intent, but on occasion the readers' placidity threatens to lull today's young listeners, not to engage them. Superlative narrators both, they fortunately wring as much variety as they can from the frequent sprinklings of actual Shakespearean text. It's a treat, for example, to hear Bailey as Juliet, however briefly, and to hear Vance's Othello. Adult listeners may find the overall experience pleasant and soothing, like listening to grown-up bedtime stories, or they may prefer something a bit more bracing. J.L.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2008]