Description

Tina Packer was an internationally renowned expert on Shakespeare and whose influence on actors worldwide reshaped how the Bard’s work is performed and understood. Recorded just three weeks before she died, this final, fascinating interview is candid, far reaching and often deliciously funny, revealing Packer at her unfiltered best. At age 87, Packer brings extraordinary clarity, generosity, and wit to her reflections on a lifetime devoted to Shakespeare, theater, and the transformative power of language. The result is a compelling, unique listening experience—part masterclass, part memoir, part intimate chat—and wholly alive.
 
In a wide ranging conversation with Alison Larkin, Packer delves into a dozen of her favorite sonnets, offering historical context alongside personal insights that breathe fresh life into Shakespeare’s timeless themes, What begins as an exploration of sonnets expands into a rich conversation on love, mortality, leadership, creativity, and why Shakespeare still matters. 

This is essential listening for actors, directors, scholars, and anyone drawn to the questions of what it means to be human.

About Tina Packer (9/29/38 – 1/9/26)
Tina Packer founded Shakespeare & Company, one of North America’s leading Shakespeare festivals and actor training centers in Lenox, Massachusetts. An award-winning director and actor, Packer directed most of Shakespeare’s plays, performed in seven, and taught the complete canon at institutions including Harvard, MIT, and Columbia. Her co-authored book Power Plays: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Leadership & Management was a business bestseller, while her children’s book Tales from Shakespeare received the Parents’ Choice Award. Women of Will the Performance, written and performed by Tina Packer and Nigel Gore and Tina Talks, Six Masterclasses on Shakespeare by Tina Packer were also produced by Alison Larkin Presents.

Alison Larkin is an internationally acclaimed writer/comedian, the bestselling author of The English American and Grief… A Comedy, and the award-winning narrator of over 250 audiobooks including The Complete Novels of Jane Austen. The TV Special of Alison’s solo show Alison Larkin: Grief… A Comedy will be filmed in front of a live audience at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center June 12-13, directed by Scott Flloyd Lochmus (Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn). Like Tina Packer, Alison lives in Stockbridge Massachusetts.
 
Other Easy Classics Audiobooks produced by Alison Larkin Presents include Moby Dick by Herman Melville, read by Jonathan Epstein, Paradise Lost by John Milton, with a Student Guide as told by Satan read by Andrew Wincott, Wuthering Heights with a Student Guide as told by Charlotte Bronte read by Alison Larkin and The Hound of the Baskervilles read by Simon Jones, with a Student Guide as told by Sherlock Holmes.

Audiobook Details
Playing Time: 2 hours 41 minutes
Chapters: 7 (individual audio files)
Format: MP3
Delivered via BookFunnel

Categories:

Memoir
Poetry
Performing Arts / Theater

Cover design by Lisa Cavendar
Production ℗2026 by Alison Larkin Presents. All rights reserved.