This production performed by the Shakespeare Recording Society (with special guests)--is excellent in its arena-like recording quality. Stereo potential is used to its fullest--one character speaks on your left, and another seems to respond from somewhere on the far right. You get the sense that you’re actually in a theater. The technique works especially well in this play because of its many street scenes and tricky character switches. For example, many times the only way listeners can hear the difference between Dromio of Ephesus (played by Bernard Bresslaw) and Dromio of Syracuse (Harry H. Corbett) is the very slight alteration in the depth of the recording. Of course, an expert in vocal patterns might be able to discern Bresslaw’s voice from Corbett’s, but, given their fantastic, churlish cockney--and the fact that they’re trying to sound alike--it’s not as easy for the rest of us. R.A.P. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
It’s kinda fun liking something a lot of other people like. We call it popular culture for a reason, right? Popularity is 50 percent of the whole concept. (In some cases, this idea backfires and we end up with America’s Next Top Fetus or Celebrity CAT Scans, but let’s try not to focus on the dark […]