World Libraries: The British Library releases the first ever audio CD of Shakespeare spoken in the original pronunciation

The British Library has released a new audio CD “Shakespeare’s original pronunciation” featuring speeches and scenes performed as Shakespeare would have heard them. Although there have been a handful of attempts to perform Shakespeare in the original pronunciation on stage, notably at the Globe in London and the universities of Kansas and Nevada in the US, this is the first time that recordings have been made available worldwide for study and enjoyment.

This CD promises to be entertaining as well as a unique and important resource for the study of Shakespeare and an attempt to recreate Shakespeare’s pronunciation 400 years later. Under the guidance of Ben Crystal, curator of the project and director of the performances, actor and expert in original Shakespearian pronunciation in performance, a company of actors performs some of Shakespeare’s best-known poems, solo speeches and scenes from 18 of his plays. The selection of speeches includes Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be”, Antony’s "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” from “Julius Caesar”, Henry V’s “Once more unto the breach, dear friends”, and “All the world’s a stage” from “As You Like It”. Scenes are included from “The Comedy of Errors”, “King Lear”, “Macbeth”, “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Othello”.

The disc is accompanied by an introductory essay by Professor David Crystal, author of many books on the English language. As the essay explains: “When we hear original pronunciation used in relation to Shakespeare, we enter a new auditory world. Rhymes that don’t work in modern English suddenly work. Puns missed in modern English become clear. New assonances and rhythms give lines a fresh impact. Original pronunciation suggests fresh contrasts in speech style, such as between young and old, court and commoners, or literate and illiterate”.