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These stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners take you inside the tragedies and comedies of Irish life in the early twentieth century. Meet unforgettable characters, including a boy who died for love, determined mothers and romantic dreamers. Many of them are forced to see the truth about their lives. One of Ireland’s greatest writers gives you his view of his native city.

Dossiers:
The Easter Rising
Features of life in Ireland

Thirteen years ago Prospero, the Duke of Milan, was robbed of his title by his brother Antonio and sent to die at sea with his baby daughter Miranda. They survived and made their home on a remote island. That day a ship carrying some important passengers passes near the island. Prospero, now a powerful magician, creates a big storm and makes it sink. All the passengers, however, manage to get to the island safely. The storm is part of Prospero’s plan for revenge. Among the passengers on the ship is his brother! Another is a handsome young Prince! Prospero has a plan for him too!

Dossiers:
John Dee – an Elizabethan Magus
The Tempest and the New World
Music in Elizabethan Times

After a long civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York, England is enjoying a period of peace under King Edward IV. But Edward’s younger brother, Richard, resents Edward’s power, Richard begins to aspire secretly to the throne and decides to kill anyone he has to in order to become king.

Dossiers:
The Renaissance: Art of Manners and the ‘Galateo’
Niccolò Machiavelli
Richard III on screen and stage

Playscript

After spending nineteen years in prison, Jean Valjean is a free man at last. But what does the future hold for him? He is insulted and rejected by everyone he meets, until something happens that will change his life forever.

Dossiers:
Paris at the time of King Louis-Philippe
Gardens in Paris
Romantic heroes in 19th century literature

Two men have secret lives. Two women want to marry a man called Earnest. But who is Earnest? Is he a badly behaved brother, the ideal fiancé or Lady Bracknell’s nephew and fun-loving bachelor, Algernon Moncrieff? Follow the incredible events that lead to the discovery of the importance of being Earnest in this adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s witty and highly entertaining play.

Dossiers:
The dandy
Victorian values and morals

Helen and Mark are actors in a high school version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. On opening night at the theater there’s a special guest in the audience, Sherlock Holmes, who witnesses a terrible murder on stage. What happens when Helen and Mark join Sherlock Holmes to solve a baffling case of murder in the exciting city of Chicago? Who will solve the case – the Chicago Police or Sherlock Holmes and his teenage friends?

Dossiers:
Chicago, the windy city
Famous characters in popular culture