Showing results by narrator "Amanda Friday" in All Categories

Set in early 20th century New York, Edith Wharton's classic novel follows the changing fortunes of the beautiful Lily Bart, an impoverished socialite who relies on the kindness of rich friends to move in glamorous society. Lily and all her friends know that she must make a rich marriage to achieve financial security, but she is drawn to kindred spirit Lawrence Selden, a charming but decidedly middle-class lawyer. Will Lily survive in a world of predatory financiers and their ruthless wives?

Frances Hodgson Burnet's 1911 novel is about Mary Lennox, an unloved orphan who journeys from India to Yorkshire to live at Misselthwaite Manor, the home of her uncle Archibald Craven. Under the influence of the beautiful countryside and its kind inhabitants, Mary begins to blossom. She soon discovers there are secrets of many kinds both inside and outside her uncle's estate. In particular, she longs to discover the key to a hidden garden that has been shut away for 10 years.

In her lifetime, Allison Clark has made many bad choices. Topping the list; she married the wrong man. Now, on the cusp of signing her divorce papers, she finds herself sandwiched between caring for her often difficult and dying mother and dealing with the seemingly endless drama of her rebellious teenaged twins. When she thinks life couldn’t possibly get any more complicated, Allison discovers her mother has concealed a family secret from her for her entire life.

Richard Dudgeon, who has become an outcast from his puritanical family due to his religious apostasy, returns home on the death of his father. Much to everyone’s surprise, it is revealed that the father changed his will shortly before his death and has left the bulk of the estate to Richard. Now that he is lord of the manor, Richard asserts himself and declares his opposition to the colonial British authorities. Later, he is arrested by the British and sentenced to death but is rescued in the nick of time by a local militia commanded by Anthony Anderson, who, ironically, is a pastor.

New South Wales struggled as a new British penal colony, facing drought, famine, social incoherence, and the development of an intransigent military cartel which did not lose any opportunity to exploit the circumstances. Together with an entrepreneurial landowner society led by John Macarthur, they made the task of the Governor, William Bligh (of The Bounty) very difficult.

Ten years after a tragic incident on the lake, an AA meeting in a small, religious town in the deep south of the USA descends into bitterness and chaos when a flood hits. Trapped within the local church, tempers escalate and well-buried secrets begin to emerge. Personalities clash, reputations are dissected and questioned, and everybody's demons are laid bare.

Hands Around, also known as La Ronde or Reigen, is possibly Schnitzler's most provocative and controversial work. In a series of 10 conversations occurring before or after a sexual encounter, between 10 pairs of characters from all walks of life, Hands Around offers a playful scrutiny of the sexual morals and class ideology of the era.

Margaret Campbell lost her family to war between the humans and the magical folks. Only, the humans had magical help from those seeking power. Margaret does not know of her heritage, but seeks out her family's history as an adult. In returning to the village for the first time since the massacre, strange feelings and memories begin to resurface. In her quest to find herself and people like her, Margaret steps into the very war which had claimed her parents. More, the others seem to think she needs to lead them.

Two British members of Parliament - one an elder conservative, the other a younger man with a liberal bent (and an eye on the older man's daughter) face a difficult choice. Some stranger has left each of them a considerable fortune on condition they give up their well-respected family names and adopt that of Wurzel-Flummery.

Edith Nesbit's trilogy about a group of children who encounter a sand fairy and, through his intercession, embark on a wild round of adventures has been a staple of juvenile literature since the first volume was published in 1902. The three books are Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904), and The Story of the Amulet (1906).

Valerie is an adrenaline junkie with a weakness for surfer boys and long swims at night. As her beach resort honeymoon draws to a close, she sets her sights on three locals for a night of scandal and indulgence.

This play forms part of a tetralogy which focuses on one of Wedekind's obsessive themes: the destructive interplay between primal sexual urges and social convention. Each play revolves around a powerful young female character, who has the power to control and captivate men, but who in turn is destroyed by the exercise of that power. In Castle Wetterstein, that role is represented by Effie, the young daughter of a bourgeois widow, who is being courted by the man who killed her late husband in a duel.

This book contains two plays by Henrik Ibsen. Norma is a satirical opera designed as a dramatic parody of Vincenzo Bellini's opera Norma, in which the characters are portrayed as central figures in the political life of contemporary Norway. St. John's Night is a fairy-tale comedy that takes place during a midsummer feast on a farm in Telemark. It is inspired by many sources, most notably A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, and features many of the same themes.

This play forms part of a tetralogy which focuses on one of Wedekind's obsessive themes: the destructive interplay between primal sexual urges and social convention. Each play revolves around a powerful young female character, who has the power to control and captivate men, but who in turn is destroyed by the exercise of that power. In this play, the dominant female is Fräulein Elfriede von Malchus, an idealistic crusader who visits a brothel operated by the cynical impresario Casti-Piani in order to rescue a young woman who has fallen into his clutches.

Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel is the most famous vampire tale ever told. British solicitor Jonathan Harker finds himself imprisoned in a castle in Transylvania and begins to believe his host, Count Dracula, is not entirely human. As his horror mounts, he suspects that Dracula plans to invade and conquer England, one victim at a time.

The always delightful and entertaining classic Anne of Green Gables is performed by actors from The Online Stage! Anne Shirley is an 11-year-old orphan adopted by a middle-aged brother and sister, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. They had wanted to adopt a boy to help with their farm on Prince Edward Island in the fictional town of Avonlea. Matthew persuades Marilla to give Anne a chance. Anne is a handful, and they fall in love with her.

Lucy Honeychurch is a young English girl abroad in Italy for the first time and is ready to experience all the beauty, art, and romance it has to offer. She is hampered by the oppressive attentions of her chaperone, her prim cousin Charlotte, as well as the presence of a substantial British expatriate and tourist community in Florence.

Six quirky radio dramas brought to you by members of The Online Stage.

Lady Ellington, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy marquis, has spent her entire life hiding from London’s high society — both as a result of her own desires and those forced upon her by her overbearing and abusive father. When the marquis passes away suddenly, Ellie feels as though a weight has been lifted and immediately assumes her role as mistress of Drake House. Though, she is constantly looking over her shoulder, wondering when it will all be taken from her. And for good reason — no sooner has she shed her black mourning garb, a missive arrives, announcing an heir to the Marquisate: a person she has never heard of before, but one with enough power to change her fate entirely.

A man willing to sacrifice all. Andrew Penton, the marquis of Drake, is a man used to getting all he desires for nothing in return. But when a mysterious woman catches his eye, he's helpless to do anything but offer her all he is. A woman determined to take everything. Lady Lorelei de La Valette, daughter of the French Comte of Epernon, is new to London society and not the lady she appears to be. Her life has been controlled since birth, yet she'll have to decide if her destiny lies with her country or her heart.