Stories from Shakespeare 2 As You Like It • Julius Caesar • The Merchant of Venice • The Taming of the Shrew • Richard II • Henry IV Part 1 • Henry IV Part II • The Merry Wives of Windsor

Here are eight key plays by Shakespeare re-told for younger listeners, with extracts from the works themselves. There is romance: in As You Like It Rosalind goes into the forest of Arden to find true love - dressed as a boy! In The Taming of the Shrew, Katherina and Petruchio find love while quarrelling with each other all the time. There is drama: in The Merchant of Venice, Shylock demands a pound of flesh from the living body of Antonio. There is history: King Richard II loses his throne, Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by men who said they were his best friends; also the complex story of Henry IV - in two parts. Finally, there is comedy, with that old rogue Sir John Falstaff chasingafter the Merry Wives of Windsor!