A LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE

A short life of Shakespeare is particularly appropriate, given how little hard fact is knowable; this one is brief but par-ticularly well suited to this series' format. Readings from the plays alternate here with Elizabethan music and with interesting fact or speculation on Shakespeare's parents, his marriage, and how his characters may have sprung from his surroundings and events of the times. Pearson is particularly good on Shakespeare's relationship with his queen (he did not like being ordered to show Falstaff in love). The commentary on the plays and Elizabethan theater is wise and interesting, if not always conclusive; the readers of the connective text and the play excerpts are marvelous. A delight. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 02]