Audible Inc., the world’s largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the release of Obie-award winner David Cale’s Harry Clarke, a sexually charged and wickedly funny thriller starring Tony Award-winning actor Billy Crudup. This critically acclaimed, riveting one-man play, which was performed live at New York’s Vineyard Theatre until December 23rd, is now available for download at www.audible.com/harryclarke.
Harry Clarke is the story of a shy Midwestern man leading an outrageous double life as the cocky Londoner of the title. Moving to New York City and presenting himself as an Englishman, he charms his way into a wealthy family’s life as the seductive and precocious Harry, and his increasingly risky and dangerous behavior threatens to undo more than his persona.
This inaugural Audible Theater project, a collaboration between Audible and the Vineyard Theatre to cast and produce the stage play before recording and making it available to Audible listeners, is part of Audible’s larger effort to identify and nurture playwrights and expose outstanding performances of their works to millions of listeners on Audible.
“This Audible production of Harry Clarke allows an entirely new audience of listeners to enjoy a uniquely intimate experience of this wonderful play,” said Dave Blum, Editor-in-Chief of Audible Originals. “It also enables theatergoers lucky enough to attend the show in person to relive Billy Crudup’s unforgettable tour de force anytime, anywhere.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that through Audible performances of my work can be captured and preserved, and now have the potential of reaching such a larger audience of people who may not have had access to my plays and performances before,” said Cale.
“The Vineyard’s world-premiere production of Harry Clarke was an expression of our mission to nurture and produce new plays and musicals that push the boundaries of what theatre can be and do,” said Suzanne Appel, managing director of Vineyard Theatre. “We are thrilled that with Audible’s release of the audio play, audiences beyond the Vineyard will have access to this riveting story and to Billy Crudup’s incredible performance. We hope listening to the audio play inspires more people to check out great live theatre and to seek out other new play experiences.”
As an added bonus, the audio production also includes David Cale’s Obie Award-winning solo play, Lillian, performed by the author. Lillian – as described by the New York Times – “is a luminous embodiment of the ineffable in life, a reminder that even the most mundane existence is shaped by currents beyond comprehension,” and is a perfect companion character to the enigmatic Harry Clarke.
With a 30-day membership trial at Audible, new listeners can enjoy any one audiobook, including this performance of Harry Clarke, free.
Among the acclaimed performers who have narrated works of literature for Audible are Zachary Quinto, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, Emma Thompson, and Jesse Eisenberg. Audible Studios has won a Grammy Award, for its production of Janis Ian’s memoir Society’s Child, and has also been recognized with the Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year, for Colin Firth’s performance of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair. Audible invented and commercialized the first digital audio player in 1997, and has since been at the forefront of the explosively growing audiobook download segment. In 2016, Audible members downloaded an average of more than 17 books over the course of the year. More than half of new Audible members are first-time audiobook buyers.
ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.
Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio content, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible was created to unleash the emotive music in language and the habituating power and utility of verbal expression. Audible content includes more than 400,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple’s iTunes Store.
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Contacts:
Esther Bochner
bochnere@audible.com
